


The Blackstar: Obsidian

by Kuroo_Amagi



Category: Original Work, Persona Series
Genre: Action, Adventure, F/M, Ghosts, Mystery, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Romance, Slice of Life, Social Links, Tarot, Urban Fantasy, Young Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-02-11 05:02:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12928029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuroo_Amagi/pseuds/Kuroo_Amagi
Summary: Former delinquent Daisuke Ichijou is sent to atone from his transgressions to the small mountain town of Naoya. As he arrives, he finds himself caught in a series of mysterious disappearances and murders that seemingly have no explanation. By facing their inner demons, he and his friends learn to harness a mysterious power gifted to them by the Arcana to solve the mystery that plagues the town.Blackstar is an original work based on the Persona universe (particularly Persona 4), using concepts and rules from the series, but transplanting them to an original setting with original characters. This story is focused on the solving of the mystery as well as the evolving relationships of friendship and love between the main cast.





	1. A New Town

The train shook continuously as it sped through the rails. The paint was starting to come off in some places and the lights flickered at every bump. The orange covers on the seats were very old, with various scratches on them, some seats even had bits of the covers missing, the yellow filling coming off, clear as day for any passenger to see. It was an old train, one that had been relegated to only make the less crowded trips, just like that one: the last train between the metropolitan Sonomura City and the small town of Naoya.

A young man sat in one of the orange seats, with his head down, loud music blasting from his dark-blue headphones. He was a tall athletic youth, sixteen years old since since a few months now. His black hair was spiked on the top of his head and fell in a short fringe on his forehead. His sharp dark eyes had a slight green tint to them as they kept staring vacantly through the window in front of him, where barely anything could be seen amongst the darkness surrounding the train tracks. He tapped distractedly with his foot, following the rhythm of the song.

Just as the song ended, he heard a small jingle coming from the speakers in the train cart, followed by a slightly distorted pre-recorded message:

"Next Stop: Naoya Station."

He nodded to himself, lowering the headphones to his neck, taking his phone from the pocket of his jeans and pausing the new song that was just starting. Getting up from his seat, he adjusted his jacket and picked up his grey travel bag, approaching the door closest to him. As the train began to slow down, approaching the station, he took another look around, seeing his cart companions: a few salary men in ill-fitting suits, and a few other youths around his age. Not many people took that train, and not without good reason.

With a sudden jolt, the train finally stopped. The cart doors slid to the sides, letting the passengers out into the station. Naoya station was still quite spacious, with three tracks and a second floor. On the ground floor, there was a small bakery, a bright coloured souvenir shop and the ticket seller as well as a help desk; however, all of the different offices were already closed due to the late hour, and the only personnel remaining to be seen were security guards. Feeling a bit thirsty, he walked up to the vending machine closest to the door, taking a soda from it and cracking it open, drinking a few gulps, lamenting how it was a bit warm.

He leaned against a wall for a second, while he drank, admiring how despite the town's small size and population, the station was still somewhat impressive. In truth, while not being especially known for tourism, it wasn't uncommon for people to come visit their relatives, and its hospital was well known and rated in the region. The calm mountain town was also a very appetizing setting for people tired of the rush of a major city.

"The station's closing," a station guard told him.

He nodded, drinking the last drops of his warm orange soda and throwing the can into a rubbish bin, walking out of the building. He had to lift his bag with his right hand to descend the staircases on the outside and into the town, walking into a the station plaza. In the other times where he had visited, that plaza was one of the most populated areas of the town, where it wasn't uncommon to find children playing or people going out for a stroll. However, at such a late hour, almost nobody was sitting on the stone benches sprinkled around the place. He couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia in being there again, after all, the last time he had visited had been years ago. His maternal grandparents had lived there, but shortly after his last visit, they had moved to the city to join him and his parents. Only a single family member remained, his aunt, who had chosen to stay and keep her job as a nurse in the town's hospital.

"Daisuke! Here!"

He smiled as he recognized the voice, looking to his side, finding a woman walking up to him. She was of medium height, with a heart-shaped face, full lips and large dark brown eyes. Her auburn hair fell in soft curls to her shoulders. She wore hospital scrubs underneath a warm-looking wool midnight-blue cardigan. From the shadows under her eyes and from her clothes, she had surely just come off a long shift at the hospital, but the gentle, caring smile she gave him was unmistakable: that was his aunt Saeko Hirose.

He met her halfway, gladly accepting the strong hug his aunt gave him. Letting go of him, she took a quick look at him, from head to toes. Although his aunt Saeko still looked nearly identical to the last time he had seen her, he had changed quite a bit.

"Look at you so tall!" she chuckled giving him a pat on the arm, "I don't think you'll be able to enter the house without hitting your head."

"It's OK, aunt Saeko," he said playfully, "I'll duck if I need to, no worries."

"Hum-hum," she nodded, beckoning him to start following her, as she made her way across the plaza, "So, how are your parents? And your grandparents too, of course. Are they well?"

"Yeah, all of them are fine," he said, pulling on his trolley bag, making it roll across the ground behind him, "They wanted to thank you for acting as my guardian while I'm here. And for letting me stay in your house too, of course."

"How could I say no? You're family, Daisuke," Saeko smiled, looking at him briefly from the side, "Besides, having some company at the house isn't so bad. Especially if you're willing to help me out with cleaning and that sort of stuff."

"Sure. It's the least I can do."

Past the station plaza, they had only to travel up a small street until they reached the centre of the town, where inside a large roundabout there was a pleasant garden with many different flowers, of varied colours and shapes, placed around a statue, a monument to a local folk hero, believed to be the town's founder. From the roundabout, the town spread in multiple directions. He recalled that upwards towards the mountains was where the school was, the high school that he had been transferred to, Kurosawa High School. He took a look towards where he thought the school should be, but in the night it was hard to make it anything to far away, especially with the fog that had now started to creep in.

Saeko had not climbed up towards the school and the mountains, however, but downwards, walking into a series of streets lined with houses on both sides, into the main residential area of the town. As they didn't cross paths with anyone, Daisuke began to think how calming it must be to live there, compared to how stressful it was on S-City, where it seemed like everyone was always late and running to fulfil a tight schedule at any hour of the day. There, however, there was barely anyone in the streets at that time, even if quite a few houses had their lights on, and the faint sound of talking and laughter could be heard from some of those.

"This place must be really quiet," Daisuke said distractedly, looking around, "Guess there isn't much to be worried about, really."

"Oh, you'd be wrong, Dai-chan" his aunt made a wry smile, "There has been quite a situation as of late, with the shopkeepers all banding together against the big shopping centre in town."

"A shopping centre?" the youth asked, surprised, "I don't remember one from when I was last here."

"It's quite recent, only opened up half a year ago. It's called 'LuckyLand'," Saeko gave a small nod, "It's actually owned by the Kunizuka family, who have always lived here. They used to have a large convenience store, but they invested extra to expand it into a shopping centre. I guess they are trying to get more tourism going for the town, but there are some people who think they are trying to run the other businesses into the ground." she sighed, "Anyway, don't bother yourself with that. I heard it's a popular spot for kids your age, so you may like it."

Daisuke nodded. In a way, the Kunizuka family was similar to his own. The Ichijou's had changed their previously small fruit parlour into a company that managed to export nation-wide, even internationally. Yet, he could also sympathise with the smaller business that could be affected by the new, more modern competitor. He wondered how strange it was for him to get his head into mercantile warfare as soon as he had stepped back into the small town.

They had only to walk for a few moments more before Saeko stopped in front of a house that was instantly recognizable to him. Behind a small stone wall, where a plaque had been placed with the name "Hirose" written on it, was a traditional looking house, with an additional floor over the ground one. Saeko took her keys from her pocket, passing by the gate and through the very small garden, heading for the door. She lead Daisuke into the foyer and then to a cosy living room, with a short table, a dark grey couch, some pillows laid on the wooden floor, and a medium sized flatscreen television. A wind chime was placed next to the glass panels that separated the inside from the backyard, that was now filing with fog. Barely anything had changed since last he had stayed there.

"You can take your mum's room upstairs, I already cleaned it up for you," Saeko said, taking of her jacket, placing it by the door, "I'm glad someone else can stay here and watch the house. Sometimes I have late shifts and don't get to come home, so knowing you're here makes me less worried. Anyway: Welcome home."

"Thank you, aunt Saeko," Daisuke took a sincere bow, showing his gratitude. As he straightened himself, he had to take his hand to his mouth to contain a yawn, "Well, guess I'll take my stuff upstairs then".

"Hang on", she asked. Her tone had become much less graceful. She turned to look straight at him, "I know you're tired and need to sleep, so I won't push you tonight; Tomorrow, though, we're going to talk about why you're here. I want the truth."

The truth. He had dreaded talking about it, but it wasn't like he shouldn't have expected it. Why else would he suddenly move away from the city, where he was being groomed to become his father's successor in running their company, to go live with his aunt in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Obviously questions would be asked. What he wasn't keen on, was answering those questions. He himself wasn't too sure of the answers. They still tormented his thoughts.

"I will," Daisuke nodded, "I promise".

A kind, understanding smile came back to his young aunt's face. Wishing him a good night of sleep, she went back onto the living room, leaving him with the task of pulling and dragging his travel bag with him, up the stairs and through the hallway, finding the door of his mother's old room and stepping into the small bedroom.

The room that had belonged to his mother, and was now his, was small yet welcoming, with light coloured walls, a redwood wardrobe and desk, a mostly empty shelf with only a few books, a small older, blocky television on top of a stand covered in green cloth, and a large and comfortable bed, whose covers where the same tone of green as the cloth under the TV and as the window dressings.

He threw unceremoniously his travel bag onto the bed, starting to unpack. He took special attention to leave his new uniform on the chair, to be worn on the next day. He then swapped his clothes, changing into the grey slacks and black long-sleeved shirt of the pyjamas, pulling the covers on the bed, preparing to go to sleep when he remembered that he had forgotten to charge his phone.

He walked back to his previously worn clothes, searching for the phone on the right side pocket of his jeans, taking it out and looking at the black screen.

"No battery," he mumbled to himself after he pressed the unlocking button with no success, "Right... Time to charge you up".

He took the charger of the desk drawer where he had just stored it, and took it near the bed, to plug it into the outlet, but just as he was about to connect it to his phone, something unexpected happened, as the sound of buzzing came off from the speaker, and the screen was filled with static.

"Huh? It's broken?" Daisuke furrowed his brow.

As he was cursing his bad luck, he looked back into the phone and he saw something even stranger: It wasn't just normal static, there appeared to be a humanoid silhouette in the middle of it. He felt a chill running across him, as the silhouette looked straight at him, a barely visible mouth saying something he couldn't hear or understand. It pointed its hand to him and talked again. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared again, the static completely gone, the screen as black as night. Daisuke felt a cold sweat, staring at the phone waiting for an explanation that didn't come. He used his free hand to rub his eyes, and as he looked again, nothing was there.

"What the hell?" he looked into his phone with a puzzled expression, "That... Was I imagining things?".

Daisuke looked at the black screen for a few more seconds, before plugging the charger into the phone, and, as soon as he did it, his phone vibrated and a picture of an empty battery was shown with a "0% charging" message underneath.

What was going on with his phone? It seemed to work well while he was on the train and now, after turning it on while charging, it also seemed to be perfectly normal.

It's just my imagination, he thought, I'm tired, I should go to sleep. He laid back down on the comfortable bed and, after turning around a few times, eventually fell asleep. Deep in his mind, however, strange visions took over his dreams, the bone-chilling spectre on the screen and an odd room made of blue velvet where an old man with a freakishly large nose shuffled a deck of strange cards in front of him. His dreams and thoughts grew more and more bizarre until he fell into a deeper sleep.


	2. Kurosawa

The sun was partly hidden behind the clouds when Daisuke woke up the following day after a night of bizarre dreams. As he stretched, getting off the bed, his mind wondered back to the previous night and the strange transmission his phone had caught. As he picked the phone from his bedside table, he began to check on it for anything out of the ordinary: from his apps, to his photos and files, all seemed to be perfectly normal. He sighed, putting it back on the table, as he went on to get ready. As he did, however, his mind raced with questions about what exactly had happened to his phone. Eventually, as he got out of the bathroom and back to his room to dress himself, he decided he had probably been just imagining things and his mind had played a prank on him. It made more sense than whatever else he was thinking.

He had heard from his aunt that the school was rather loose when it came to its uniform, allowing its students the freedom to wear it "their own way", which apparently was the ability to customize it to some degree, as long as it was still mostly a complete uniform. For that reason, Daisuke immediately threw the black tie he was supposed to wear back onto his travel bag, instead opting to leave the collar of his white dress shirt free, and the tails of it out of his plaid black and dark grey slacks. Over the shirt, he now wore a black blazer jacket. On the left of his jacket was the school's diamond shaped emblem, while on the lapel he had a small pin with the number "2" signalling his grade. After bending down to tie the shoe laces on his black sports trainers, he got back up picking up his school bag and then left his room.

His aunt was nowhere to be seen when he went down the stairs. Instead, he found a note from her on the kitchen counter saying she had an early shift but would be back for dinner. Next to the note, he found a copy of the house keys that, moments later, he was using to close the door behind him, as he started to make his way across town.

As he walked back past the main plaza, going up towards the top of the hill, where the school was located, Daisuke took his phone from his pocket, unlocking it, and sliding his finger around it for a bit. Once again, nothing seemed to be wrong with it, in fact, it seemed to be completely normal. _What the hell was that last night?_ He thought to himself once again, before placing it back in his pocket and picking up the pace.

Kurosawa High School was already visible when he was only halfway up the hill: The school was three stories tall, being a wide and imposing stone building, with slanted dark blue tiles for a roof, and a small clock tower at the front. The gates were wide open once he reached them, passing into a large courtyard decorated with cherry blossom trees, hedges and a stone fountain in the centre, exactly in the middle between the gates and the entrance to the school. A large number of students were already inside the courtyard once Daisuke arrived. Like Saeko had said, most students did wear their uniform differently, some ditching or keeping the tie, some wearing a t-shirt or a hoodie instead of the white dress shirt. He also got to see that the female uniform was nearly identical to the male one, with the exception that instead of plaid slacks, the female variant had a short skirt of the same fabric, with the norm seeming to be wearing knee-height black socks, but, like other parts of the uniform, the choice of socks or pantihose seemed to be really up to the student.

As he went past the main doors, he remembered that he was meant to go to the faculty office, so someone could inform him of his timetable and which class he was in. There was a map handily placed at the entrance, so he had an easy time navigating the light coloured hallways and finding his way through the western corridor on the first floor and the room he was looking for.

Upon entering it, he could see several filing cabinets lining the walls, and quite a few desks with teachers sitting at them. One of the sitting staff members, a lean man with greying short hair, a goatee and round rimmed glasses, looked at him as he entered:

"Good morning. Daisuke Ichijou, right?" the man asked, adjusting his glasses, and later pointing at the chair in front of him, "Please take a seat."

Daisuke followed his instructions, laying his black school bag next to the chair and sitting in front of the man that was now searching for something amidst the papers on his desk. Daisuke could read the man's name on the small nameplate on top of his desk: "Shinra Kujiragi".

"You transferred here from Kaijo Academy in Sonomura, correct?"

"Yes, I spent my first year there," he answered, "I will probably move back there after this year too.”

"Very well, we've been informed of that. Aha, here it is," the man took a paper sheet from the pile, "You are on class A. Mr. Suneo Sakakibara is your homeroom teacher."

Daisuke took the paper from Mr. Kujiragi, seeing the timetable printed on it, where his class, and teachers were also written. He was to go to classroom 2-A on the second floor for homeroom as soon as he left that office.

"You should hurry along, now," Kujiragi looked at his shiny golden wristwatch, "Class should be about to start and Mr. Sakakibara doesn't like to wait. Good luck, Ichijou-san."

He thanked the teacher, picking his bag back up and leaving the room, climbing the staircase up towards the second floor, where he found Classroom 2-A easily, however, it seemed that his new classmates were already inside. He took a peek at the watch on the wall, confirming that he was indeed not late, but two minutes ahead of time, before shrugging and sliding the door open. On the other side he found a medium sized classroom, with individual desks where students were sat at. The walls were lined with some educational posters and a map, and there were three windows on the far side wall, that showcased the gym and the sports field. As he took a step inside, nearly all other students turned to look at him standing by the door.

"And that's... Huh? Who are you?"

The teacher had stopped his speech as soon as he heard the door slide, staring at Daisuke. He was a short man, with cropped dark hair, wearing a very ill-fitting green suit, that didn't do much to hide the man's pronounced gut, or his extremely thick neck. The sunken eyes behind the glasses barely hid his annoyance.

"Oh yes, you're the transfer student, ain'tcha?" the man Daisuke assumed to be Mr. Sakakibara said, half annoyed, half mocking, "Just what I needed, another ‘city boy’. Do me a favour and write your name and introduce yourself to your classmates."

Instantly Daisuke felt an intense dislike for that man. Everything about him rubbed him the wrong way, but especially the sideways looks at him, like he was challenging him to try and talk back. He wasn't about to let himself loose his cool because of some self-obsessed teacher however, so he quietly nodded and headed to the black board, picking up a chalk stick and writing his name, the same kanji ended both his first and last name.

"Daijou Ichijou, huh?" Sakakibara said with contempt.

"Daisuke Ichijou," he corrected him in a neutral tone.

"Whatever, I don't give a crap, city boy," he grinded his teeth, "Go find a seat before I get you a detention."

Daisuke gave his new homeroom teacher a sideways glance of his own, almost tempting him to do something, but still, he complied, going towards the end of the class. He found a free seat by a window, behind a dark haired girl who traded a quick look with him, before he sat down.

What followed was a painful, never-ending look into Sakakibara’s views on school, teaching and the world in general. Despite his subject being Japanese literature, he barely talked about it, instead deciding to use that first class to gift his students with his opinions on a variety of different matters. Daisuke was beginning to fall asleep after a while. He had never been a particularly hard-working student, with irregular study time and overall relying on his good power of retention and quick thinking to score well enough in exams, very rarely reaching the top of the class, but always floating around the high marks. Still, he tried to remain focused when he was in the classroom, but with Sakakibara’s unending diatribes it was proving to be a hard task, especially when the teacher occasionally took a break to complain about a particular student. Daisuke got called out twice, even though he had really not done anything, but another common target had been a boy sitting diagonally across from him, to whom the teacher also referred to as “city boy”.

Finally, as class ended, a huge sigh of relief was audible in the classroom, as Sakakibara left the room, presumably to go terrorize other classes, or to burn down an orphanage. Daisuke wasn’t sure about which of the two scenarios was more likely.

"Hey, Ichijou-kun?"

He turned his head towards who called him, finding the girl that sat at his right. As she stood up, he could see that she was of average height and of an equally average build, wearing an orange zipped up hoodie under her blazer, the school skirt, short white socks and orange trainers. Her heart-shaped face had a rough comeliness to it, with large, friendly light brown coloured eyes and a small perky nose. Her auburn hair came down to her shoulders in a messy bob cut, held together with black x-shaped hair pins.

"Don't worry about Sakakibaka, ok?" the girl told him in a sympathetic voice, "He's a jerk to everybody.”

"I guessed as much," Daisuke said, turning on his chair to look up at the girl who sat on her own desk, picking up a juice carton from her bag, “Thanks.”

"You're welcome,” the girl gave him a friendly smile, “I’m Riko Kida, by the way. If you need help with anything, just let me know.”

“Just don’t ask her to help you with studying,” the boy that sat in front of her desk said, “With her, you’re more likely to get worse than better.”

“Shut up!” the girl snapped at him, leaning on her desk, “Like you have great grades, you jerk!”

The boy laughed, ignoring the reply. He was the other student Sakakibara had kept complaining about, the other “city boy”. While taller than his friend, he was still a fair bit shorter than Daisuke. He had a very striking fade hairstyle, with the top of it dyed light blond. His dark brown eyes were sharp and his smile gave the impression of a natural troublemaker. He had a small earring on his left ear and wore a yellow t-shirt with a black design instead of the common white dress shirt.

"Oh yeah!" The blonde boy looked at Daisuke, "Name’s Tatsuya Mikado, nice to meet ya."

"Same,” Daisuke said, “You’re from Sonomura too, right?”

"Yup, born and bred in the City," the boy gave a large smile, pointing to himself with his thumb, "I just came here last year. Dad got a nice job offer here, so we moved,” he glanced quickly at the girl next to him, before adding with a mocking grin, “I’m used to it now, but this town kinda sucks, right?”

"You are the one who sucks, Bakatsuya," Riko Kida protested, biting the obvious bait, her eyes flaring with murderous intent, "There’s tons to do and it’s super peaceful and beautiful. I love living here.”

"Of course you do, you never left this boring old town," Mikado crossed his arms, "Sonomura City is _way_ more fun. You agree with me, right Ichijou?"

"I don't know, I've only been here a handful of times before," he admitted, shrugging, "But I don't think it's that bad."

"Oh so you don’t know the town yet? Well, I have an idea" Kida said, opening her hands, "How about we take you on a tour of the town when the classes end? You get to know the town, and Tatsu gets to eat his words."

Daisuke hesitated in accepting the offer. He wasn’t used to people being so friendly and open right of the bat. Especially when he himself was naturally distrusting. He was immediately thinking if the two were somehow swindling him, but their expressions and tone seemed to be genuine.

“Sure, why not?” he said finally, biting the bullet. It wasn’t like he knew anybody in town anyway.

“Alright!” the girl cheered, looking then next to him, “Hey Izumi, wanna come with?”

The girl that sat in front of Daisuke didn’t seem to be paying attention to their conversation until then, hunched over the book on her desk. When she turned around, her eyes widened, surprised to hear her name. As she looked to Riko first and then trading a glance with Daisuke, he noticed that she was actually quite pretty, with a pale, freckled face, large dark-grey eyes and long black hair that fell down to just bellow her shoulders in soft curls. She wore a wool dark-blue cardigan under her uniform jacket, the common plaid skirt and black pantihose under it.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention…” she apologized, her voice was deeper than Kida’s, but also had a sort of softness to it, “What were you talking about?”

“Showing the the town to the new kid,” Kida said with a sympathetic smile, “Are you busy?”

“Yeah…” she glanced quickly to Daisuke, but for the most part, her eyes were either on Kida or on the ground, “I’m sorry.”

Kida dispersed any potential bad feeling then, even if their conversation was cut short with the arrival of a new teacher, the one who Daisuke had met in the faculty office just before, Mr. Kujiragi. Even if he wasn’t that fond of maths, he couldn’t help but feel it was akin to a godsend to have a regular boring old class with a normal teacher after the flurry of grumpiness that was Sakakibara. Fortunately for him, and everyone else in his class, the rest of the day’s class were much less Sakakibara and much more the normal classes one would expect from a high school. In a way, he didn’t really feel much of a difference between what were the classes back in prestigious Kaijo Academy and the ones in small Kurosawa High.

In between his classes, sometimes during them, he got to speak with his new classmates. Both Kida and Mikado were more than happy to engage in a conversation, sometimes even too much. For someone like Daisuke who didn’t really mind if the other person in a conversation carried it, it wasn’t really a problem. From his snippets of talking, he got to know both of them better:

Mikado was on the volleyball club since the year before, playing as a setter for them, being so impressive despite the school’s low ranking and bad record, that he had been chosen as the captain that year, a rarity as most club captains tended to be third years. Kida, on the other hand, whilst a fan of sport, wasn’t actually in a club as of yet. On the other hand, even if being a bit embarrass to tell it, her interests were uncommon for a high school girl, being a passionate fan of old mafia and yakuza movies as well as a big pro-wrestling fan. Despite Mikado teasing her about it, she stood her ground, threatening him with a chokehold, making him retreat from his comments.

The other girl however kept herself mostly silent, only occasionally chiming in if Kida, or sometimes Tatsuya prompted her to. The odd thing, to Daisuke, was that he felt that the girl was eager to speak sometimes, yet for some reason or another she decided not to. At first he thought maybe she just didn’t feel that comfortable talking with a newly arrived transfer student, but even when talking to Kida or Mikado, whom she knew for at least a year, she seemed to hold back. He made a mental note to ask one of the others about it later.

As classes ended after a full day, Daisuke left the school together with Tatsuya and Riko, leaving the other girl, Izumi, to herself and her own devices. As he passed through the gates again, he could see that the afternoon sun was still hidden. As he walked through the courtyard, he noticed that there were even more clouds in the sky than there had been during the morning. As they made their way down the hill, Kida suggested that they should start their tour of the town with the Shopping District, as it was where most people liked to spend their free time, and it was the most populated area. With both boys agreeing to her proposal, they then carried along towards the west side of town.

The famous shopping district extended over a long main street, with the occasional small side street connecting to it. On the sides there were several local run stores, seemingly not grouped by the items they sold, but by the fact that, in most cases, the stores were part of the building where the owners lived at. One of the stores they passed by near the top of the street was “ _Kida Fabrics”_ , the store that Kida’s parents ran: It wasn’t all too big, and it was attached to Kida’s house behind it. As far as a traditional, fabric store, that was exactly what Daisuke would imagine.

As they made their way down, the other went and pointed out to him several stores, like the bookstore ran by a nice old couple, or the electronics store that was just as good, if not better than the ones in the cities. A couple of restaurants and bars were also pointed out to him, with Mikado being especially fond of a restaurant that had been opened just a few months before, by a foreigner that sold Italian food. Finally, at the end of the district they found the controversial LuckyLand. Looking at it, it was clear that its aesthetics and size was very different from the traditional, family-run look of the other stores. It was larger, wider, with bright signs and colours, it’s blue and cream logo visible from far away. A jingle greeted whomever passed through the automatic sliding doors.

“So that’s the shopping centre?” Daisuke asked.

“Yep, that’s LuckyLand,” Mikado nodded, “People around here either love it or hate it. Me? I think it’s great.”

“Well, you don’t have your parents afraid they’ll lose customers because of it,” Kida said, sighing, “I feel bad for Izumi.”

“That girl from class?” Daisuke asked, curious.

“Yep,” Mikado was the one to answer with a nod, “Kunizuka’s parents are the one who run this place. Some people give her shit cuz of it. It’s not her fault really, she’s always super quiet, so I don’t even know why people think giving her weird looks and talking behind her back is justified.”

“It sucks,” Kida said, sighing.

 _It does_ , Daisuke thought, nodding silently.

“Oh well,” Mikado shrugged, “I’m hungry as hell. You guys wanna grab a bite in the food court?”

“In LuckyLand…?” Kida seemed a bit resistant to the idea. Even if she felt bad for her friend, it was clear that her parents business mattered to her, “Ah… Ok, if Ichijou-kun agrees.”

Having no real reason to decline, he agreed. Mikado lead them past the automatic doors and through the several floors of the large shopping centre. Daisuke had visited others, larger and more packed shopping centres back in the City, however, this one, especially in the context of the town was still impressive. They had to climb up two escalators before finally reaching the food court. A large open patio was in front of them now, with both long rectangular tables and smaller circular ones, under white parasols. Following Mikado’s suggestion, they all got “Lucky Burgers”, sitting by the edge of the food court in a circular table. He was pleasantly surprised with the taste, finding it quite good, especially for fast food.

“So, Ichijou, you’ve listened to us talk for a while,” Mikado said in between bites, “What’s your story, mate? You’re here to stay?”

“Nah, afraid not,” he shook his head, “I’m just staying here for the year, really. I’ll be going back to Sonomura next spring.”

“Man, I wish I could be that lucky,” the blond said, digging through his fries, “But why are you only here for a year then?” he smirked, “Are you some sort of criminal?”

 _Yeah_ , he answered mentally.

“Don’t be a jerk,” Kida intervened, hitting him lightly on the shoulder, “Anyway… Tatsu, you heard about the Dead Phone Watch?"

"The what?" Mikado mumbled between bites.

"Are you talking about phones turning on with no battery?" Daisuke asked.

"Yeah, you heard about it, Ichijou-kun?" Riko looked surprised.

He nodded. His mind was racing to the previous night, to the static and the figure cloaked in it that had appeared in his seemingly dead phone. Had it really not been a weird dream? Was it true?

"Wait, the hell are you two talking about?" Mikado looked confused at both of them.

"It's this weird rumour going around," Kida began to explain, "They say that if you have your phone turned off during a foggy night, it will turn on by itself, even with no battery."

"What?" The blond snickered unconvinced, "You really have been watching way too many freaky movies. That's so dumb."

"It's true."

Upon Daisuke's sentence, both of his classmates stared at him. Mikado seemed to think he was probably a lunatic, while Kida had her mouth open, legitimately surprised.

"When I got here last night, my battery ran out," Daisuke continued, "When I was going to charge my phone, it suddenly started to show static, and there seemed to be some sort of silhouette in the middle."

"Oh my God!" Kida rose her hand in front of her mouth, "So the rumour was true!"

"Oh don't be ridiculous, he's just pranking you," Mikado said.

"I'm not" Daisuke insisted, "It's true, I saw something."

"A ghost?" Mikado asked in a mocking tone.

"I don't know what I saw for sure," he admitted, "But there was something there."

"Hey, tonight is going to be foggy, right?" Kida asked cautiously, after a small moment of awkward silence, "We should all turn off our phones and see if something comes up. Then we’ll know for sure"

"Fine..." Mikado sighed, "I still think you two are making this shit up, but I'll play along."

Having all agreed on trying it and with the sun coming down on the horizon, they traded phone numbers, before together exiting the building and going their separate ways. As he was nearing his house, Daisuke looked at his phone again. Something was definitely happening, and he was going to found out what it was.


	3. Who I Am, Who I Was

The sun had already set when finally Saeko returned to her home, visibly exhausted from another day at the hospital, taking her coat and hanging it by the entrance. She carried white grocery bags in her hands that she sat down on the kitchen table. As she saw her nephew waiting for her, sat at the table, she gifted him a tired smile.

"Hope you like takeaway food," She said, taking the aluminium foiled trays from inside the bag, laying them on the table, where Daisuke had already placed plates, "I'm a decent cook, but when I have this shift I just go for the quick, easy option. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, it's alright, don't worry," Daisuke smiled, trying to comfort her. In truth, after eating the burger in LuckyLand, he wasn't particularly hungry. Yet, he took the lid from his tray, being greeted with a pleasant smell, "Work went well?"

"Yes, actually. Old Mrs. Tamaki was finally cleared, she had gotten hurt when she tripped, but now she's back home, so I'm really happy for her," Saeko waited a bit to chew her food, thinking to herself, "And you? How's school?"

"Good, I think. School's bigger than I thought," Daisuke ate some more. Even if it wasn't anything to write home about, it still was quite a tasty meal, better than he could find in some reputable places in the city, "Not a fan of our homeroom teacher, though."

"Let me guess... You got Mr. Sakakibara?" Upon Daisuke's nod, Saeko sighed. "I still don't know how they let him continue teaching. He's such an unlikeable man."

"Already hated me before I walked in," Daisuke shrugged, "Guess he doesn't take kindly to city folk."

"Just make sure to not get into trouble, and he won't bother you too much," she ate some more before continuing, "Did you make some friends?"

"I guess so. I talked with this guy, Tatsuya Mikado, and this girl, Riko Kida," he said. "They seem like nice people."

"Mikado-kun is also from Sonomura, right? I remember someone with that last name moving here last year, they seem like nice people. Riko-chan I actually had already met, I've gone to their shop a few times before. Seems you found good friends to hang around with," a large pause followed her last comment, as if she was scanning him, before she talked again, "I hope you didn't forget your promise."

He nodded, looking back down to his nearly emptied out tray. He hadn't forgotten, how could he? He was there for a reason, he was there because he had made a lot of wrong decisions. He knew that his parents had kept the reason under wraps, even going as far as to not to tell aunt Saeko, his guardian for the year, why he was there. However, for as much shame and guilt as he felt, he also knew that, unless he talked about it and came to terms with it, he would never really be able to improve himself.

"Ever since a year ago, I was a part of the Ghosts, a street gang back in the City," Daisuke finally said, the words hurting him as they left his mouth, "I learned about 'em through some friends from school. I was bored out of my life, I couldn't just stay put, I needed something to do. Something that gave me some sort of purpose. So I... I joined them."

He avoided looking at his aunt for a while, as his mind was flooded with images of his time with his old gang. How his then friend Rokujo Masaomi had invited him to join his street gang. How they had fought together and with the rest of the gang on the streets, often during the night, away from the public's eyes, in shady back alleys, and under heavy rain and sometimes even snow. The rush he felt as his hits connected, the psychotic joy of unleashing his repressed anger onto others. He hated to think about it now. More, he hated how much he had enjoyed it. He waited patiently for his aunt to say something, to chastise him or otherwise, but as he looked back at her, she sat silently. _Why aren't you saying something?_ , he thought looking at his aunt's face. She no longer looked tired, in fact, she seemed to be hanging on his every word, but kept quiet, waiting for him to speak again.

"We were in fights a lot. I was good at it. At fighting," he continued through the uncomfortable silence, "I'm pretty sure mum and dad knew about it. I did come home with bruises from time to time, but they either ignored it, or didn't know what to tell me... I also didn't know what to tell them so we were just in this awkward impasse."

Why was he fighting? He had thought about it a lot. Was he doing it just for the adrenaline and the rush of blood that came from punching someone? Was he doing it as a misguided attempt to get people's attention, a call for his absent minded parents to show them that their son was more than just the little heir they wanted? He didn't really know. Frankly, he kind of didn't want to know. Yet, that didn't change the fact that he had done it, and that now he had to pay for it.

"It was just some dumb fights between some stupid kids, nothing else," he looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. "Until one day, when a few policemen came to stop us and we all ran away. I didn't want anything to happen... but one of the policeman, he followed after me and, as we went past a road, he was hit by a car." Daisuke clenched his fists in anger and guilt, teeth clenched, "He survived, in fact, it seems he can make a full recovery, but he was lucky. He could've died and it would've been my fault. I would've been the one responsible, nobody else."

As he sat, guilt and self-loathing brewing within him, the memories were coming back: the dimly lit street, him running as fast as he could, changing directions quickly to evade pursuit and then the image of the car, bright red yet seemingly appearing as if out of nowhere, hitting officer Okabe and sending him flying into the air, before crashing violently back onto the ground. Daisuke had rushed to kneel beside the man, calling for an ambulance as the bloodied and battered policeman drifted out of consciousness. He later had tried to go visit the man while he was on the hospital, but his parents, fearing legal action, had forbidden him. He wasn't supposed to have been there that night, so why would he feel compelled to go visit a police officer he supposedly should never have met? It might've, no, it certainly would've mean his normal life would be over and not only would it be bad for him, his parents' company might also suffer from his selfish actions.

"So that's why you're here... to stay away from home and from the gang," his aunt finally talked, her expression seemingly tired again but still very much paying attention.

"A few of the other guys that were caught ratted me out. They said I was a part of the gang and had been involved in that incident, but the police didn't really have much evidence besides their testimony, which they considered unreliable. I guess they didn't want to mess with the Ichijou estate with such weak evidence. Still, my parents decided to send me here to keep me away, to lay low and rethink my life," he crossed his arms, avoiding direct eye contact, he didn't want to see the disappointment and the betrayal in Saeko's eyes. "But I'm sure officer Okabe knew who I was. I went back to help him, even with the hood and how dark it was, he could see my face, I'm sure. But he didn't report me, and... I don't know why he didn't."

"You said it was an accident and you went back to help him, didn't you?", Saeko asked, looking up thinking, before staring back at him, forcing him to look back at her, "Perhaps he saw that you were just a lost kid, and wanted to give you a second chance."

"But why would he? I'm a screw-up," he bit his lip, frustrated. "This isn't punishment. They thought that keeping me in this small town would teach me something, but what? I should pay for what I did."

"Dai-chan," Saeko raised her right hand, reaching over and placing it gently on his shoulder, "What's done is done. What you're feeling, that remorse and guilt... It's already a pretty hefty punishment. Maybe you're right, maybe you should've been sent to jail, but you weren't," she gave him a small smile, "You have to get back up and redeem yourself by being the best person you can be. The Daisuke I see in front of me now isn't an arrogant criminal, he's a boy trying to regain his footing. You'll make it back, trust me."

Saeko's kind, caring smile and her words made Daisuke himself smile weakly. He wasn't sure if those feelings of guilt would ever fade, if he would stop having that nagging sensation that whenever he was having fun, that he should be instead trapped in a prison paying for his misdeeds. But his aunt seemed to believe in him and maybe she was right, maybe the Daisuke Ichijou from Naoya could be a good person and make up for what the Daisuke Ichijou from Sonomura City had done.

"Thanks," he said, not knowing what else he could say.

Saeko ruffled his hair in a maternally way before starting to lift the plates and clean the dishes, just as Daisuke felt a rumble in his pocket and he took out his phone to see a text, from Tatsuya Mikado:

_"Hey dont forget about our dumb bet turn that phone off k? ;) "_

He had almost forgotten about it, but now his curiosity was spiked again. What had he seen last night? Was the rumour Kida had told them truth or false? Had he really seen what he thought he'd seen, or was he just imagining things? Whatever it was, he was going to find out.

"Hey, I'm kinda tired, you mind if I go up?", he asked, getting up from his chair.

"Sure, no problem, I'll go sleep in a bit too", Saeko smiled to him again, "Good night, sleep well".

He nodded in response, making his way back up towards his room, exchanging his uniform for his pyjamas and walking up to the window, noticing the fog on the other side. For the weird phenomenon to happen, it seemed that it had to be foggy, so if it was real, it had to happen that day.

Looking at his phone, he still had some battery left. The rumour went that the phone had to be switched off, not necessarily out of battery like it had been the night before, so he decided to turn it off, seeing the screen blacken as the power went out. He stared at his phone for a few minutes, but there didn't seem to be anything happening. Maybe it wasn't just 'at night', but there had to be a specific time for it. He didn't recall the time when he had seen his phone light up the day prior, but he did remember that it was later than the time it was currently, so he laid his phone down by his side on the desk as he picked a book and decided to skim through it to help pass the time, since, despite it being only the first day of classes, Sakakibara had already assigned them books to study.

Sleep was almost getting the better off him when he went back to his bed and picked the phone back up, once again the screen was pitch black. He was beginning to think that he probably had been just dreaming the night before when, all of a sudden, the screen flickered on once more. The strange static he had seen the last time appeared and Daisuke felt the hairs on the back of his neck tense up. From the corner of his eye he saw the time on his clock: Midnight.

He studied the static once more, this time however, the picture seemed to be a lot clearer than before, with him being able to see what seemed to be a dark city covered in what appeared to be a red mist or fog. The silhouette he had seen last time also appeared, this time, he could also discern something more about it: it was a girl, dressed in a uniform that could only be Kurosawa's. Her features were still very much hard to discern in the grainy quality, but he could see that her hair was dyed in a reddish tone, and she wore it in a braid. Just as soon as he could start to distinguish some features, however, it went away and the phone was back to being completely black, as the clock on the table read "00:01".

 _It's real_ , he thought, _Whatever the hell this is, I didn't imagine it._

He turned his phone back on, and as soon as he did, he immediately got a call:

 _"Holy crap! You saw that!?"_ Mikado's voice rang loudly on the other side, loud enough to make Daisuke have to hold the phone away from his ear, _"Some weird shit was going down there!"_

"I told you," answered Daisuke, "I thought I was just imagining things, but if you saw it too, then there's really something there."

_"Yeah… Hey, what did you see? You saw a girl too, right?"_

"I think so," Daisuke nodded to himself, "Braided hair and a Kurosawa uniform".

 _"Yup, same thing I saw,"_ Tatsuya's excitement was almost palpable, _"Hang on, I gotta call Riko. We'll talk about this tomorrow, alright?"_

Daisuke agreed to continue the conversation later and they both said their goodbyes, before Mikado ended the call, certainly eager to have the same discussion with Kida, while Daisuke kept looking at the unlocked phone for a long while thinking: What the hell did all of that mean?


	4. Fear of the Unknown

Daisuke could barely focus on anything that his teachers were saying the next day, and he had the distinct impression that the same was also true for both Mikado and Kida, as both of them seemed to be paying as much attention to class as he was: Kida sketching away at the corner of her book, Mikado looking at the clock above Sakakibara's head, likely wishing it would speed up. To the boy’s displeasure though, it seemed as if time was mocking them and running slower. They had decided that they would get together as soon as class ended to discuss what they had seen, as, it seemed, Kida also had been able to get the strange phenomenon to happen on her phone, but classes had never seemed to be that slow until that day.

"Hey, city rat!"

Daisuke instantly knew who Mr. Sakakibara meant, even before he stopped looking at the window and looked at the red face of his rage-filled teacher:

"You didn't hear anything of what I just said, did you?"

 **"** I did, sir," Daisuke lied with the most neutral expression he could.

 **"** Don't you dare lie to me," Sakakibara's salient neck vein looked ready to burst, "If you really were paying attention, then you will have no problem telling me who purposefully used wrong kanji in his writings, will you?"

Sakakibara gave him a smug smile, correctly guessing that he had not paid attention to a single word of his tedious lecture. Daisuke looked towards Kida, but she shook her head, Mikado didn't even seemed to have registered that Sakakibara was yelling at a student, still staring at the clock. Both of them would be of no help to him.

"Kuukai," he heard someone whisper in front of him.

"It was Kuukai," Daisuke repeated, taking any help he could get, looking at his textbook and finding the name next to a picture of a monk’s statue, completing his answer, "A famous monk from the Heian-era."

"Correct. Kuukai, also known as Kobo-Daishi. Seems you're not as brain dead as you seem," Sakakibara said with distaste and annoyance at their peak.

As soon as the teacher turned back to the blackboard, Daisuke looked around to thank whomever had helped him, concluding it had to be the dark haired girl in front of him, Kunizuka, who still kept looking forward. He made a mental note to thank her after class. The bell rung a while later, signalling the end of classes, as everyone began to get off their seats and walk towards the door, once more, the relief at the postponing of Sakakibara's reign of terror for another day was obvious in the students expressions.

"Hey," Daisuke called to the girl who had been sitting in front, "Thank you."

The girl turned around to look at him, nodding unenthusiastically. Her silver eyes avoided his.

"Yeah, good thing you helped him out, Kunizuka-san," Mikado butted in with a large grin, 'City-rat' here was lost."

"So were you," he replied with a somewhat annoyed tone.

"I really don't like how Mr. Sakakibara treats you, it's really unfair and mean," the girl said, in a low voice, looking at Daisuke briefly and then away again? "But you shouldn't need my help. Please pay attention, ok?"

"Yeah, no problem," Daisuke gave her a friendly smile, "Thanks again."

Kunizuka shyly smiled back at him and nodded, picking her bag and walking out of the room, leaving only Daisuke, Mikado and Kida near the window, waiting a bit before they started to walk together out of the classroom, continuing along the hallway.

"Man, I really like Kunizuka-san, she's such a sweetheart," Mikado said crossing his arms and sighing, before adding with a perverted smile, "Pretty too."

"Leave her alone, you creep," Kida complained adjusting her bag to her shoulder, "She already has enough on her plate without you bugging her."

"Oh come on, I didn't say anything wrong," Mikado put his hands on his pockets, "Stop being jealous."

"Me? Jealous?" Kida's voice rose in an instant, her face flaring up, "Now you listen here, Tatsuya Mikado!"

"Hey, aren't you two forgetting something?" intervened Daisuke, holding Kida's shoulder, "The Dead Phone Watch?"

The two of them stopped dead in their tracks, as their brains rewired back to the previous night.

"Damn it, you're right, I almost forgot,” Mikado admitted, lifting his right hand to his forehead, "Let's go to the roof, no one will hear us there."

Upon the other two's agreement, they began to climb the staircases, going past the seniors' third floor and up into the school's roof, surrounded by a chain linked fence, and with a few benches around, which, thankfully, were empty. As Daisuke approached the fence, holding onto the links, he looked down, watching as students rushed out of school.

"So… What did you guys see?" asked Kida, sitting in one of the benches.

"Static at first," Mikado answered, "And then a silhouette. It looked like a girl."

"Same here," Daisuke nodded.

"Yeah, I saw the same thing too," the girl said, before concluding, "So we all saw it, but what does it mean?"

"Hell if I know," Mikado shrugged, "You're the one that is into weird movies, shouldn't you know something?”

"Me?" Kida looked confused at him, "I've seen some weird things coming from phones in shows, but that? I don't know anything about that..."

"There is something…" Daisuke said, remembering a detail, "When I saw it last time, the silhouette was a lot fuzzier. I couldn't tell anything besides a vague human shape."

"Oh, but this time we could tell it was a girl in a uniform!" Kida recalled.

"I couldn't see her face all that well, but she had braided reddish hair, probably dyed, that colour didn’t seem natural," Mikado added, "You think if it's foggy tonight, we'll get to see her face?"

"Maybe," Daisuke said, "I’ve never seen anything like this before, but I’d bet on that.”

Having agreed to continue their experiment, the trio left the roof, starting to make their way down the staircases, descending through the school. They were exiting the school courtyard when Daisuke heard someone call his name, and he found a girl wearing an almost complete uniform, with a red bow instead of a tie, black long socks up to her thighs and small black boots instead of the regular shoes. She had a burgundy straight hair to her shoulders, held with a black hair band, and bangs over her face, just above her large reddish brown eyes. She was pretty, at least to Daisuke, but commanded an imposing presence, far more than any student and even most teachers.

"You are Daisuke Ichijou, the transfer student, right?" she asked, her voice was slightly raspy but still pleasant.

"Yeah, that's me," Daisuke replied.

"I am Satsuki Toriumi, the Student Council President," she said, placing her right hand on her chest, "I should've talked to you yesterday, but had other duties. Here," Toriumi opened her school bag and took out a pamphlet, "You have information about clubs there, the Student Council and also general information about the school. If you need anything, we're in the second floor, so pay us a visit, ok?"

"Sure, thank you, senpai," he said to her taking the pamphlet and storing it in his own bag, "I'll look into it."

"Hope you enjoy the school, Ichijou-kun," Toriumi gave him a welcoming, charming smile, before turning around and waving at him as she stepped away, "Have a good day."

Daisuke nodded, mirroring the wishes of a good day, watching Toriumi go back towards her classmates. As he saw them walk away, however, he shook his head. Was he seeing it right? He looked again, staring at one of the girls, with braided hair of the same vivid red as the one in the transmission. Was it her? The hair, the uniform... Even if he couldn’t see the phantom’s face clearly, could its face and the girl’s not be the same?

“Ichijou-kun?” Kida called, shaking his shoulder, “Are you alright?”

"Did you see that girl?" Daisuke asked the other two, ignoring the question.

"Of course I did, she's hot! I wish the student council president was Toriumi-senpai when I came here last year," Mikado complained, "I had this really strict guy almost shouting at me."

"Not her," Daisuke shook his head, exasperated, "The other one."

Mikado and Kida both leaned forward trying to see whomever Daisuke was discretely, or as discretely as he could, pointing too, a surprised expression slowly showing up in both of their faces.

"Oh! You think it's her?" Kida asked, "It did look a bit like her."

"If his theory is right, then we'll know for sure tonight," Mikado opined. A hard to read half-smile forming on his lips, “This is turning into a hell of a mystery.”

 

* * *

 

 

Night had come, and once again, a thick fog had set into the town of Naoya. Daisuke had ended up asking his aunt if it was normal for the town to be that foggy, to which Saeko had answered saying that, being in a mountainous region, Naoya did have a lot of foggy days, but that year was undoubtedly the foggiest she could remember. Seeing as how the rumour about the Dead Phone Watch required it to be a foggy night Daisuke had begun to wonder if there was some sort of supernatural phenomenon happening. He couldn't fully believe it, but it sure was a lot of strange things happening at the same time.

When it was just a few minutes to midnight, he turned his phone off, walking with it to the window, checking out the weather through the window finding a thick fog, much denser than the previous day. He then returned to bed, waiting until finally, the clock on his bedside table signalled midnight.

As expected, the dark screen was lit up again with static, but this time it went away much faster, not revealing a silhouette but a clear look at the girl. Round face, long lashes, vivid red hair in a braid. They were right! It was her. But something seemed off, she seemed to be in some sort of stage, like those seen on concerts, and she didn't wear her uniform, but an outfit one would see being worn by an idol, with a bright coloured sleeveless short dress full of zippers and small bows. What most caught his attention, however, was how her eyes were no longer a dark brown but a bright gold with small pupils. It looked like she was a woman possessed.

 _"Hello, my dear fans!"_ the girl’s voice was strange. It sounded simultaneously high-pitched like what might be her real voice, but somehow it also sounded distorted and deep, like two tones of voice were fighting for control over the noise, " _I’m so glad I finally get to share with all of you my talents!”_

The girl twirled around, as multi-coloured lights lit themselves around her. All spotlights on the stage were on her as she twirled, twinkling, the way she spun nearly hypnotic.

_"Pay attention everyone! It's the Mayoi Yumeno show! And I'll show all of you just what I'm all about!"_

Before the girl could do whatever it was she was planning, however, the static overtook her again, and the phone went back to being black.

Hastily, Daisuke turned it back on, feeling his hands ice cold but a thousand questions burning in his mind. He was about to call Mikado, when a call from the other boy reached his phone:

"What the hell is going on!?" he shouted as soon as Daisuke accepted the call, "I don't even know how to describe it... She was in a stage? The Yumeno Show? What is up with that?"

"Didn't she seem off to you?" Daisuke asked, as soon as Mikado gave him a chance.

"Everything was off", he could hear Mikado sigh, "But you have a point, her eyes looked really different and that smile was really creepy".

"I have no idea what this all means, but we have to talk with Yumeno-senpai tomorrow", Daisuke said.

"I agree. Well, I'll call Rioo, see ya tomorrow".

They ended the call and Daisuke threw his phone back to his bedside table, laying on the bed, at the same time feeling tired and yet incapable of sleeping with Yumeno's strange message echoing in his head. It was if, at the same time, they were getting closer to an answer and yet, the answer they were getting was just making them more confused. His sleep was an uneasy one.

 

* * *

 

 

Heavy rain was falling on Naoya the next morning, forcing Daisuke to take a black umbrella with him on his way back to the school. Looking distractedly at the rain, he wondered if that meant that there wasn't going to get foggy later that night, and what that might mean for the Dead Phone Watch.

"Hey! Daisuke-kun!"

Daisuke looked behind him to see Kida sprinting towards him, with her school bag over her head, passing to get under his umbrella. He initially thought it strange to hear her use his name and not his surname, but then again, by that point, they already weren't so much as just classmates, but actual friends. Or at least, that made sense to him.

"Sorry, my umbrella broke…" she explained, breathing a little heavy from the run, "You don't mind if I go with you?"

"Nah, no problem," he said, getting the umbrella between both of them and walking forward again, "You saw the Watch, K-- Riko?"

"Of course! That was seriously messed up," she seemed pleased that he called her by name, before looking seriously ahead, "Do you think this is some kind of weird prank?"

"No," he said, "Something was wrong with Yumeno-senpai."

"Tatsuya said we should talk to her," Riko recalled, "I think he's right. If someone knows what's going on, it's her."

As they finally reached the school and went together up the stairs towards their homeroom, finding Tatsuya Mikado looking around anxiously, briskly walking towards them as soon as he saw them:

"Hey, is something wrong?" Riko asked in a concerned tone, "Looks like you saw a ghost or something."

"Actually, it’s the opposite," Tatsuya said, looking from one to the other, anxious for an answer, “She’s gone. Yumeno-senpai disappeared.”

"What!?" the other two said in unison, trading with each other surprised looks.

"Apparently her mum says she didn't come home yesterday, and people have been looking for her since last night,” Tatsuya continued, "Guys, this shit, whatever it is, it's fucking real".

"Wait, hang on," Riko pleaded, raising her hands, "Maybe she just got lost or something."

"No, it can’t be a coincidence," Daisuke theorized, "Last night we were finally able to see a clear picture, it even spoke. And she goes missing on the same day? There's something there."

"He's right, it can't be a coincidence," Tatsuya nodded in agreement, before crossing his arms in an uneasy stance, "But… what do we do? We saw her in some kind of concert or something but… what even was that? If we go to the police they'll just ignore us, they'll think we're crazy."

"That's because this _is_ crazy!" Riko said, almost shouting, "Would you believe it if you hadn't seen it?"

"Of course not!" Tatsuya bit his lip, "Damn it… There's nothing we can do. We just have to try to watch it again tonight and see if something shows up."

The rain continued to fall harder and harder still as the day slowly went by. If the day before they had been anxious, but mostly curious to learn about the secret of the Dead Phone Watch, that day there was actual fear in their thoughts. What had happened to Yumeno? Had she gone to the strange looking stage that was behind her in the video? She didn't look normal, it was if someone was possessing her or something of the sort.

"Hey Riko," Tatsuya called, when they were preparing to leave the school that afternoon, "Something has been bothering me… Who told you about the Dead Phone Watch?"

"Huh?" She looked at her friend confused, "Who told me?"

"Yeah… See, Ichijou saw it by chance, when his phone died, but you were the one that brought it up," Mikado lifted his right index finger while he was talking, "It's just… I want to know who started spreading the rumour in the first place."

"Oh! Yeah, I got it," she crossed her arms, lowering her head, deep in thought, "I… Don't know. I have absolutely no idea."

"You don't remember?" Daisuke insisted.

"No..." Riko shook her head, "It's like I don't even remember someone telling me, I just knew I had tell you guys about it."

"Oh man, this is getting worse and worse," Tatsuya scratched his head nervously, "Strange and unexplainable transmissions to turned off phones, disappearing girls and now we don't even know where it came from? Damn it!"

They were in low spirits leaving the school, the rain that continued to pour only worsening their collective moods, so much so that they each went directly back to their houses.

When Daisuke opened the door back into his temporary house, he found his aunt sitting at the couch in front of the lit television, turning her head when she heard him shutting the door behind him:

"You're home early," his aunt gave him a friendly smile, "You didn't go out with your friends today?"

"Nah, we'd get soaked wherever we went with this rain," he fell into the couch tired, "Didn't know you had the day off."

"I do get those from time to time", Saeko got up from the couch, "Since I'm here, might as well cook something this time."

Daisuke thanked her, letting himself sink deeper into the couch, enjoying the momentary reprieve, despite his mind still constantly replaying what he had seen in his phone that night.

The jingle for the local newscast on TV caught his attention and he looked back at the screen, leaning forward when he saw the two newscasters, a clean shaven man and a woman with a bowl cut.

 _"Good night, Naoya, this is the evening news,"_ the male anchor said, _"Tonight, we start with the disappearance of a young student in our town."_

As soon as he heard that phrase, Daisuke felt his body tense up.

_"Eighteen year old, Mayoi Yumeno, a third year at Kurosawa High School disappeared yesterday after being last seen leaving her school the previous afternoon"._

Daisuke took his phone from his pocket, immediately sending a text to Tatsuya and Riko to warn them about the newscast, and he immediately got a reply from the girl, just as footage of Yumeno’s mother being interviewed was shown, as she expressed concern, saying that her daughter had never done anything of the sort before.

" _We have to find her"_ the text came from Mikado when the report ended.

" _We will"_ Daisuke replied.

When, after diner, he went back up and turned his phone off to await the Dead Phone Watch, he looked through his window, seeing the rain continue to fall mercilessly. He didn't know how him, Tatsuya or Riko could do anything if they knew nothing, but he hoped that they would get an answer soon.

His alarm clock made a noise when it became midnight, and Daisuke immediately stepped through his room to find his phone, but there was nothing on there. It was as black as it had been since he turned it off.

"Damn it…" he gritted his teeth.

He started to touch the screen, trying to make something happen while he still had time, despite the screen showing no sign of registering his attempts. After he confirmed the impossibility he turned the phone back on and called Tatsuya, who confirmed that he also hadn't seen anything, as did Riko, when he called her afterwards.

Cursing his luck in his mind, he laid back down on his bed, but his feeling that something bad was about to happen was only getting worse.

*

Rain had stopped the next morning, despite it falling like it was a storm during the night. When Daisuke walked out of the house the next day, besides some clouds, the sky was clear, like it hadn't rained at all. Further contributing to his theory that the town's weather was under some sort of supernatural phenomenon.

He looked at his phone to check the clock when he noticed something off about it. There seemed to be a new app installed on it, a red square with a black star over it.

_"What is this?"_

Before he could press it, a scream cut through the air and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as a dark chill went through his spine. Almost not thinking, he ran towards where he heard the scream, finding a small crowd already there all looking to the same place, above their heads.

When Daiuske looked, he felt something tug at his heart strings: Up on power cables there was a girl tangled in them, her body and uniform was blackened by burns, but he could still distinguish her face, and her cold, dead eyes. The eyes of Mayoi Yumeno.


	5. Death, The Thirteenth

The image lingered on his head, Yumeno's pale and expressionless face, staring forward unblinking. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw it again. He told Tatsuya and Riko as soon as he saw them, and got to see on their faces the same look of confusion and terror he had seen on the small crowd that had gathered around the grim spectacle, the same look he thought he himself probably had when he saw it. It just didn't seem real. It seemed like an overly long nightmare that just never stopped.

The school's principal, Mr. Yoshida, called for an urgent meeting with students and staff members once the news broke out, filling out the school's large auditorium with the dreaded news that Mayoi Yumeno, their colleague that had suddenly gone missing, had been found dead. Even if the principal, thankfully, had spared the congregation the details of the macabre crime scene, a palpable sense of dread and fear could be felt among the student body. If even in big Sonomura people didn't just vanish and die suddenly, in small quiet Naoya, it seemed downright impossible.

"God damn it..." Tatsuya whispered through gritted teeth, "We could've done something."

"No, we couldn't," Riko replied, with her hands closed on top of her legs, with evident frustration, "We didn't know what was happening. We still don't know."

When the announcement ended and students were free to leave the auditorium, Daisuke could see Toriumi consoling another third year girl, with a saddened expression, clearly holding back tears herself, but keeping a strong façade to help out her friend. He felt a deep respect for her then, as she was placing her own grieving for after she could care for her fellow students, after all, such was her duty as Student Council President.

Daisuke was already making his way back home in the presence of his friends when his mind was filled with a terrifying possibility: What if this death was not an isolated incident, but just the first of many more. What if the killer, if there was one, wasn't yet satisfied? The prospect of another death shook him deeply, but also made him reinforce his desire to find the truth behind the Dead Phone Watch. It was a supernatural phenomenon that was certain. If the strange transmissions displayed on their phones wasn't proof enough, the crime scene was equally puzzling. No simple killer would go to the trouble of climbing the post and throw Yumeno's body on top of the cables, it just didn't make sense.

As he was walking next to where he had heard the screams of the horrified crowd, after he had already got separated from his classmates, he remembered about the app that had suddenly appeared on his phone. He stopped, taking his phone took his phone from his pocket. Sliding open the lock screen, he found it again: the strange app. He held his finger on it, and as he did, he noticed that the option to delete it wasn't available. Furrowing his brow, he tried to check its details, but that also wasn't possible.

The app had to be connected to the Watch. He didn't know how, but it had to be. It had suddenly appeared on his phone, it had no available information and he couldn't delete it or do anything to it that wasn't actually opening it. Whatever that was, it was somehow linked to the messages and to Yumeno's death. He hesitated briefly, thinking about what would happen if he pressed on it, before letting his curiosity get the better of him, and lowering his finger into the screen once again, this time however, to activate it:

His phone started to vibrate, the screen going pitch black for a moment, before seemingly endless stream of white characters began to slide across it, until the screen froze and the characters in the centre changed from white to a bright blood red:

 _"_ _s5sHad00W wWw0rlDD"_

The letters then disappeared again and a sudden burst of bright light came off the screen, blinding Daisuke, forcing him to use his free arm to shield his eyes as he attempted to look away, while his body felt strange, like he was being ripped from the spot and thrown around but at the same time not moving in the slightest. He felt nauseous but then, just as suddenly as it had started, the feeling stopped and the light regressed, finally allowing Daisuke to open his eyes again. The street where he had just been on was gone, he was in a completely different place: A dark alleyway extended forward and behind him seemingly without end. The floor had old and worn out gritty stones, the concrete walls seemed to be covered in some sort of dark greenish slime or humidity. The street lamps cast a strange and eerie bright red light that occasionally flickered. Looking up at the sky, it was covered in what seemed to be dark green, poisonous looking clouds, a bright yellow, larger than normal moon shone above. Worst of all however, the entire place was covered in an asphyxiating, thick red fog that made it hard to see more than a few steps ahead, while at the same time making Daisuke feel tired and nauseous.

 _"_ _Where the hell am I!?_ " he thought alarmed, looking around for some sort of clue, but finding nothing but fog. He took a look at his phone again but the screen was black again. His hands trembled as he rushed to press the button on the side to turn it on, but it was as if it was completely dead. He cursed, putting it back on his pocket, taking a few steps and looking around the strange and intimidating, depressing street.

"Hey!" he called out without thinking, putting his hands around his mouth to make his voice travel farther, "Anybody out there!?"

He regretted it immediately. The drowned out sound of rustling came from in front of him, past the fog. Something was shambling around over the ground, but he could only see it after it took a few more steps forward. It was not one, but three humanoid looking creatures, who walked hunched forward, their long and thick arms almost scrapping against the pavement. Their skin was almost pitch black, were it not for red and white kanji, numbers and alphabetical letters scrolling mysteriously through it, like it was some sort of strange screen. Their raised heads had a blood red classic theatre mask on, with two large eye holes behind which bright golden eyes stared at him, unblinking.

"Back off!" Daisuke took a step backwards, raising his arms in a defensive posture, "What the hell are you!?"

One of the creatures took off from the group, taking a longer step forward, before, suddenly, springing into the air, raising its arms as it jumped, attempting to swipe at Daisuke, who jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the creature who fell back to the ground, raising its neck to stare at him. It let out a strange and distorted screech and, as it did, it leaped forward again, as did its brethren, breaking into a chase.

Daisuke turned around, starting to run as fast as he could, feeling the fear creeping over him. Where was he? Was he in the same place where Yumeno had been before her death? Were those creatures the things that killed her? He found an opening on the wall to his left and quickly shifted towards it, the creatures not backing up, following behind him. Daisuke had longer legs, he could run faster, but the fog made it almost impossible for him to tell where he was going, while his chasers seemed to be completely unaffected by it.

As much as he ran, he couldn't seem to get distance between himself and the monsters who were now running like quadrupeds, closing down on him. He slid into another opening to his right, looking back to see if he had lost his pursuers, only for them to show up at the alleyway entrance, continuing their chase. Daisuke continued to run forward until he was forced to stop as he finally ran into a dead end. The narrow street where he had ran through ended in a tall brick wall that he could not even hope to climb. Upon seeing that they had him cornered, the creatures slowed down, leaning back into their hind legs, twitching and emitting more screeches.

Daisuke was panicking. He could fight humans, he knew how they moved, he knew how and when to attack and when to dodge, but those creatures, they were not human. He found a broken pipe laying by the side of his foot and rushed to grab it, picking it up and holding onto it with both hands like a sword or a bat. If those monsters wanted to kill him, he wasn't going down without a fight.

The one in the middle, the one who had attacked him before rushed towards him, leaping into the air once again. Daisuke sidestepped it, holding onto his pipe and delivering a counter attack, an horizontal swing that pushed his assailant back, making him smack into the wall. Feeling courage flare in him again, Daisuke took a step forward, going for a second blow, aiming for its head, but the creature slithered away, making Daisuke strike the wall with his pipe, making a loud clang noise. He cursed, taking a step back, awaiting an attack, but the attack didn't come. The monster had stopped in its tracks and suddenly imploded, disappearing in a mixture of black mist and sparks, while what seemed to be glass shards fell into the ground where it stood. Confused, Daisuke looked to check the other two creatures, but both of them were also nowhere to be seen.

For a moment the only sounds audible where Daisuke's ragged breathing and his accelerated heartbeat, but then he could hear footsteps. Not the strange mixture of steps and dragging of the monsters, but actual human footsteps. A figure appeared from the fog then and Daisuke felt his jaw drop. The person that appeared from within the red fog was a tall athletic youth with unkempt black hair and sharp dark-green eyes. He blinked a few times, but he wasn't imagining it: the person in front of him was himself. The stranger didn't wear the uniform of Kurosawa, but instead, a striped prison uniform, with chains around his bare ankles and wrists, and his eyes shone with the same golden glow that the other monsters did, but everything else about him was just like Daisuke: the height, the eyes, the hair, the build and face.

"Who… Who are you?" the question left Daisuke's lips before he could even think.

"Do you not recognize yourself?" a sharp smile appeared on the doppelgänger face, his voice also sounded like his, but somehow distorted, like a deeper voice was talking at the same time and they would occasionally switch which one was in control, "I'm you. I am Daisuke Ichijou."

"No, I'm me," the phrase sounded almost childish, but the shock didn't let him think. He could not believe what he was seeing.

"True, I am much more than you. I am the _real_ you. The you that has nothing to hide," the doppelgänger laughed, a mockery of Daisuke's own laugh, "You may pretend to be ashamed, to be so damn sorry about what you did. But I'm not. You're not. You revel in the crimes you committed."

"That's wrong!"

"Is it? Did you ever truly come to an answer about why it is you joined the gang? Why you fought?" the chains rattled as the other Daisuke paced around, "You always say that you 'don't know' why, but that's not true, is it? You loved it. You loved when the other thugs were beaten and bloody on the floor and they were looking up. Looking at you looming over them. That proved you were better. That proved you were stronger! And you bloody liked it! You loved to be strong! To be feared!"

Daisuke took a step backwards, the heavy oppressive atmosphere of the fog affecting him. No that wasn't true. It couldn't be. He hated it. He hated fighting. He only ever did it because he was bored and he was good at it. And he was wrong to do it, he could never take pride in something like that. Could he?

"Shut up, you're lying!" he finally shouted, gripping his pipe harder, "You're nothing but a bloody liar!"

"A liar? I could never lie to myself. I was strong. I am strong. I fought because it made me feel like I was the ruler of the world. I wasn't just the nice little heir that mum and dad wanted me to be, I was me for the first time since I was born. I was stronger than anybody. People finally knew that I was tough and unbreakable, and I got my respect. They knew they weren't worth shit next to me. Finally I was no longer just the boring Daisuke Icihijou, I was something more. I was the bloody king of Sonomura. I was finally me."

"No!" Daisuke shook his head, his sanity leaving him, "You're not me!"

Silence reigned for a moment and then, it was if something in the doppelgänger snapped. The creepy smile gave away to a maniacal distorted laughter as the other Daisuke was consumed by a sudden burst of dark blue and purple flames, shifting and burning ever brighter, as within it, the doppelgänger changed, becoming larger and less human. From within the flames a voice that was akin to a deeper and demonic mockery of Daisuke's own voice sounded:

"I am a Shadow. The true self".

The flames grew one last time before they were pushed away by a strong wind, forcing Daisuke to shield himself to not be pushed backwards, placing his arms in front of his face. The force subsided and he could look in front of him ahead and see that the doppelgänger had transformed into a new and monstrous form: It looked like a tall humanoid covered in dark grey knightly armour, with shredded remnants of the prison uniform's striped fabric around its chest and arms that ended in hands with large claws made of shiny, sharp glass. The restraints were still in place in its wrists and ankles and a dark blue ripped cape floated behind it. The head looked like a  Daisuke's own face made of metal, with a crown made of glass on top of it. The chains around it still kept a residual dark blue fire burning.

"Become one with your Shadow!"

The Shadow opened its right hand and on it glass shards appeared out of thin air, assuming the shape of a long sword with a wide blade, the clawed fingers holding the sword's grip. Daisuke snapped out of his trance just in time to jump out of the way of the Shadow's violent guillotine-like attack. Daisuke attempted in vain to hit at the back of his doppelgänger's legs, but it turned around quickly, smacking the pipe right out of Daisuke's hand and throwing him backwards, sliding and rolling on the ground. He felt his body ache terribly, his eyes watering as his senses were overwhelmed by the fog as he tried to push himself back up. He cursed as he saw the Shadow prepare another strike: It would be over. He couldn't dodge it and any hit from that blade would kill him instantly. He was done for, his attempt at a rehabilitation would end with him dead in an alleyway in a strange place, literally murdered by his own demons.

The Shadow lunged forward and Daisuke closed his eyes, preparing for the inevitable. But the attack didn't hit. He heard the sound of glass shatter and the Shadow being pushed back. Daisuke opened his eyes again, looking forward: The Shadow was standing away from him, the sword lay in small shards of glass on the floor and walls. The Shadows eyes didn't look at him now, but at something at his feet and it was then that Daisuke noticed what had stopped the attack: _A dog...?_

A relatively small shiba inu dog with short black fur around its body, a white snout and tan legs was standing on its four paws just in front of him. An orange kerchief was around its neck and its eyes had a gold shine, like the Shadow's, when it turned its head to look at him, before turning back to the monster.

"You aren't going to kill him, Shadow".

The dog spoke. Daisuke didn't know if he should be shocked by that with all of the crazy things going on in the last few minutes that were trying to kill him, but he still couldn't help but look incredulous to the mutt who had turned around to look at him again with its bright golden eyes.

"I can hold him off, but only for a moment," the dog spoke again, its voice sounded boyish and very human. It seemed to lack any sort of real accent, "We can't beat him unless you accept your Shadow".

"Accept it…?"

"I will become stronger!" the monster that used to look like Daisuke roared, "No one in this whole damn world can look down on me!"

The monster leaned forward, left hand on the ground, right hand back as it summoned the glass shards back into it, creating a new blade. The Shadow's gold eyes flared with murderous intent.

"That thing is you!" the dog said, taking a leap forward, leaning forward and taking a defensive stance, "You have to admit, in your heart, that those are your hidden feelings!"

"But they're n—"

"Go to hell!"

The monster leaped forward again and slashed through the air with the sword attempting to slice Daisuke, but the canine jumped vertically, getting in front of the sword and spinning around himself, a white flash appearing and sending both the dog and the Shadow in opposite directions. This time, the sword didn't break and the Shadow kept its footing, sliding over the cobblestone sending sparks skyward, while the dog fell to the ground with a thud, weakened, barely able to stand. Deflecting the Shadow's attack seemed to take a lot of energy. If he tried it again, he would be certainly fail.

"Whatever the hell you felt! You can become better!" the dog screamed, evidently in pain, trying to push himself back onto his feet, "You can only redeem yourself if you understand why you were wrong!"

Daisuke opened his eyes wider, the words resonating within him. Why did he feel so guilty after all? If he kept trying to tell himself that he had fought without knowing why, he was just really trying to get sympathy, pretending he was lost. No, he wasn't lost. He knew what he had done was wrong, he had accepted that, that part he couldn't hold against the Shadow. More than the "what", what had truly tormented him was the "why". He had dodged the question again and again, but deep down, he knew doppelgänger's words, had cut through him, they were truth. He fought because he wanted to be strong. Because he didn't like people to just assume he had been gifted with luck, because he wanted to prove that he was capable, and that no one could look down on him, no matter what. Even if he wanted to say that he would never do it again, those feelings of hunger for acceptance and strength were still there, and that terrified him.

"Get out of my way!"

The doppelgänger lunged again, but the dog stumbled, it couldn't jump again, it was too weak. Daisuke got back on his feet, rushing ahead, getting in front of the dog, his arms wide open willing to take the blow. The Shadow stopped immediately, falling in front of him with a loud sound, but the sword touching the ground away from them. The Shadow's golden eyes were on him, staring at him.

"You're right… I did it because I wanted to be strong. Because I wanted people to respect me," he looked away from the monster that had sprouted from his darkness, looking at the ground, "In the end, I knew what I was doing was wrong and I screwed up. But I couldn't stop. I kept thinking that I wasn't really fighting for myself. That I was doing it for someone or something else. But that's not true," he looked back up to the Shadow's eyes, "I'm scared. I'm terrified. Because in the end, what drove me to fight isn't gone. It's still here. My desire to be strong and to be respected. I'm worried that one day I may do something stupid again and disappoint the people I care about, or put them in danger..."

He smiled to himself, feeling an odd mix of sadness and anguish, but also of freedom for finally being able to come face to face with the things he was scared of in himself. He took a deep breath:

"The only way I will ever get my rehabilitation, is by accepting myself. You are me."

The creature's face, before, a twisted mockery of his own, shifted itself, in a sort of smile. The sword disappeared and the Shadow was once again enveloped, this time not by dark flames, but by a warm blue-white light that saw it shift in its form once again: It was still a humanoid in armour, but smaller, just barely taller than Daisuke, and leaner than its previous form, the armour of a cleaner and lighter silver, than the previous dark grey. The cape was replaced with a long and rich dark blue coat with golden accents, the only remnants of the prison uniform being stripes on the torso and under the knees. A red scarf was wrapped around its neck. On its head it wore a helm with three horns, dark blue hair coming from back of it. Underneath a bright azure shining right eye was engraved the Roman number "XIII". It still had cuffs around the wrists, but the chains were broken and floated around it.

"I am thou, thou art I," Daisuke heard his voice coming from the floating apparition, "I am Siegfried. I shall be the sword with which you shall cut through falsehood and reveal truth."

As soon as it pronounced its last word, it was enveloped in the blue light again, and the body disappeared, becoming only little light particles that flew into Daisuke, before disappearing, leaving a warm sensation in his chest. _Siegfried_ , he repeated in his head, _I am thou, thou art I_.

Daisuke stumbled momentarily, feeling his tiredness come rushing back at him all at once, but then he remembered the dog, and turned around to look at it. The small canine was standing on his four legs once again, still a bit weak, but looking at him with what seemed like pride.

"You really are strong," what looked like a smile appeared on the mutt's face as it, much more expressive than a regular dog from the real world. "To be able to face up and accept your Shadow like that… You are very brave, Death".

"Death?" he asked, "I'm Daisuke Ichijou… Who are you?"

"Hum… I guess you do need a name to call me…" the dog lifted its front paw under his head, in a very human fashion, like it was stroking its chin, "You can call me Garm. Come with me, I'll explain everything"


	6. Awaken, Emperor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a completely re-written version of Chapter 6, with a severe increase in quality.

 Garm, the strange dog, led him to what apparently was a safer place. He climbed through a broken down window into a house that looked to have been abandoned for decades, with cracked floorboards and dusty, broken chairs, an old sofa with bits and pieces ripped out and an assortment of scratches and burns lining the walls. Even inside that building, the fog was still present, hurting Daisuke's eyes and sending a pounding sensation to his head. Even if his hunger for answers kept him going, he was starting to feel nauseous and tired.

"Oh yes, I forgot you humans aren't used to the Fog," Garm said, in a jovial tone, "Here, please lower your head."

Daisuke gave him a weird, untrusting look. What was it going to do him? Still, the dog did protect him before and he wouldn’t have survived without it, so he ended up kneeling down in from of him. The dog moved his right paw towards him, where a sphere that seemed to be made of pure light appeared suddenly. Daisuke’s instincts told him to jump back, but his body didn’t move. He reached forward, touching the sphere with his left hand and as he did, he felt a sharp sting of pain in his eyes, raising his right hand to shield him as he stumbled backwards. As fast as the pain had come, it also had gone away, as if he had been pricked by needle.

He opened his eyes again, his vision slightly blurry at first, but then, as it adapted, he could see again. But what he was seeing wasn’t the same as before. He could now see everything clearly inside the house: the fog had disappeared. He got back on his feet, looking around in awe, walking towards the window, looking outside to the streets and confirming that the dense, intoxicating fog was gone from the outside as well, only a light mist remained in the far off darkness.

“What happened?” he asked, turning around to the dog behind him.

“I fixed your eyesight,” he said, talking in such levity that it was hard to even tell if he was joking or not, “You can see past the fog now.”

“How did you do that…?” Daisuke rubbed his eyes with his hand again, he felt nothing different, yet the fog was still gone, “You know what? Never mind, I have more important questions: Where are we exactly?"

"Well… You're in another world. Another dimension if you want. I just tend to call it the Shadow World," Garm began pacing around the room, seemingly without any specific aim, "Those creatures that were chasing you: Those are what I call Shadows."

“What about the other one?” he insisted, “The one that looked like me? Was it also a Shadow?”

“It was,” Garm sat down in front of him, as he prepared an elongated explanation, “This world and your world are like two sides of a coin. What is hidden away in your world, is what’s at the surface here. Those things that pursued you are humanity’s hidden thoughts and emotions given a physical form. The regular Shadows come from the collective unconscious, but some Shadows are reflecting of an individual, and for that are stronger and more realized. What attacked you was your _own_ Shadow.”

“And I defeated it, by accepting it?” Daisuke asked. He somewhat was following along, but the concepts Garm was bringing up seemed so hypothetical and abstract that putting them into a tangible, real world seemed absurd.

“Yes,” Garm nodded, “Think about it. If you can understand and accept your faults and your hidden emotions, than they can no longer manifest outside yourself,” he paused, looking around, as if checking if they were alone, “By accepting your Shadow, you can now manifest it as a guardian: the mask to protect against life’s hardships, a Persona.”

Persona. Siegfried, the spectral knight in a blue overcoat that that had appeared from the fires that had consumed his doppelgänger. _I am thou. Thou art I._ Daisuke stretched his hand forward, looking at it. Was its strength his to command? If so, how could he do it?

“Back there, you asked me why I called you ‘Death’,” Garm recalled, “Well, every Persona is tied to one of the twenty-two major arcana of the tarot. It represents the person it is linked to.”

“The tarot?” Daisuke raised an eyebrow, “I thought that was just superstition.”

Garm looked at him with his head tilted, and Daisuke realized how dumb that must have sounded. _Yes, Daisuke, question the veracity of fortune-telling, you’re not talking about personality-ghosts with a talking dog, after all_.

“Huh, anyway,” Daisuke said, wiping his eyes, trying to get rid of some tiredness, “There’s something I need to ask you.”

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing for the past ten minutes?” Garm asked with an oddly human smirk.

“Well… Yeah,” he didn’t avoid a somewhat embarrassed smile, but focused again, “You can detect the presence of people inside here, right? That’s how you found me?” As the canine nodded, Daisuke continued: “A few days back, did you detect the presence of someone else? A girl called Mayoi Yumeno?”

Garm took a moment to consider his words, looking up, and then back to him:

“Yes. I felt two presences that day. They both eventually went away. One of them, disappeared the same way it appeared. The other one, I felt it die.”

Daisuke felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up, a cold shiver running through him. Yumeno had died there. Not only had she died there, but someone had been with her. That person could be an important witness to the case or, most likely, that mysterious second presence belonged to Yumeno’s killer.

“To be honest, once I felt your presence today, I assumed that the one from before had returned. As I got near you, however, I could tell yours was different,” Garm looked at him intently, “That’s when I knew that you were most likely innocent.”

“Wait… I was innocent?” Daisuke felt a numbness at his fingertips, “Then, you mean that the other person that was with the girl killed her?”

Garm looked away, which was answer enough for him: There was a murderer loose on the town. Old, drab and dull Naoya, where nothing was said to happen, was now a killer’s playground. Worse yet, he most likely wasn’t looking at an isolated incident, but at the first of a series of murders. He clenched his teeth, but in his mind, he couldn’t help but feel a pinch of irony: the delinquent that had been sent away from the city to stay away from trouble, had stumbled into being in the path of a murderer.

As he mulled about it in his mind, he couldn’t fully shake the feeling that destiny was looking at him and expecting him to act. Even if putting egomania aside, if ever he needed a way to fully redeem himself from his crimes and misdeeds, stopping an even worse criminal was certainly a good way to start. He felt fear within him, but also a burning desire to make up for the past and, as shameful as it was, to fight again. This time, however, he wouldn’t be fighting for himself.

“I’ll stop him,” he said, closing his fists.

Garm looked at him, not with surprise or confusion, but with what seemed to be relief and a sincere appreciation. Or at least, that’s what could be inferred from his golden eyes.

“The Shadows have become restless since the girl’s death. I feared for my own safety,” Garm admitted, “That person, whomever it was, will certainly return. Until he or she is stopped, I can’t see this place return to normal.”

Daisuke nodded, feeling determination spread through him, pushing the fear away. He took his phone from his pocket then, trying to check for how long he had been there. He found the screen to be black, except for a digital clock that kept changing and glitching and underneath it, the red square with the black star that had activated the portal inside. He wondered if pressing on it again would take him back to the “real world”. Before he could pose the question to Garm however, a loud sound was heard in the distance, Garm instantly propping up from his sitting position, his ears springing up:

“There’s someone else here!”

“Someone else?” Daisuke hurriedly put his phone away, looking to the room around him, searching for some sort of weapon, “The killer?”

“I can’t be sure,” Garm shook his head, moving towards the door, “Follow me!”

Daisuke cursed under his breath, as Garm rushed out of the door. He found a broken beam by the door and picked it up, as he tried to keep pace with his new friend. The wooden beam wouldn’t be as effective as the rusty steel pipe, but it was still a weapon nonetheless.

As he remained in pursuit of Garm, he looked around to his surroundings. As he could now see past the fog, Garm’s assertion to the mirrored nature of the two worlds became more apparent, as he could now see that he was actually in what seemed to be a dark and ruinous version of the Naoya High Street. He couldn’t be too far away from his house, as he recognized the streets that they passed by, even despite their post-apocalyptic state, with ruins instead of house, all plants dead and burnt and the ever present fog in the distance.

“Shadows!”

Garm’s sudden shout had him stop so suddenly he almost tripped and fell forward. Managing to flail his arms around to properly stop, he looked ahead, seeing as a group of three hunched over creatures approached, their general appearance was the same as the ones that had chased him before, but without the fog, he could now notice that the expressions on the theatre masks were different between each of them.

Daisuke steadied his stance, holding the wooden beam with both hands like he had held the pipe. As the closest Shadow rushed at him, Daisuke sidestepped it, his feet set, he delivered a counter-attack, swinging with all his might, but as the beam hit the back of the Shadow, it cracked in half, the tip of it flying through the air, splinters scattering around at the point of impact. The Shadow had fallen on the ground with a distorted cry of pain, disappearing in a cloud of black smoke and ash, yet, with his weapon cracked in half and unusable, Daisuke’s options had become rather more limited.

“What are you doing!?” Garm called to him, “Use your Persona!”

With the adrenaline, he had nearly forgot about it. The remaining Shadows rushed towards him, their disproportionately large arms striking the ground as they made their way to him, preparing to pounce and attack.

He didn’t know how, but as he moved his hand in front of his face, he felt a strange energy take hold over his body. Blue and purple flames burnt up in the palm of his hand, around what seemed to be a slowly spinning card with the Roman numeral _XIII_ engraved on it. As the Shadows lunged for a tackle, he closed his fist around the card, as the sounds of glass breaking filled the streets:

“Rip them apart… Siegfried!”

The fire spread from his hand to his whole body only for a moment, as at the very next beat of his heart, the spectre of the knight was in front of him, sword of bright, sharp glass in its clawed hands. A single strike, a horizontal slash, was all that was required for the Shadows to be split apart at the middle, as their bodies burned up into ash and smoke, their screen-like skin incapable of offering any resistance against Siegfried’s piercing blade.

Daisuke stood motionless, watching as the remains of the Shadows burned in front of him, in awe of the power of his own Persona. Even swinging with all his might with a steel pipe he had barely been able to kill one, but a single swing from Siegfried’s sword and two Shadows were now ashes in the fog.

“Behind you!”

Garm’s warning made him turn around just in time to see another Shadow, a fourth, hidden one, jump towards him, its arm reaching for his head, intent on crushing it. With instincts that were completely new to him,  he made Siegfried glide past him, his master, then using both hands to deliver a devastating diagonal blow, a helm-splitter, that crushed and cut past the Shadow, whose momentum carried the ashes and smoke past Daisuke.

As the last remains of the Shadows withered away, Daisuke felt his muscles tense up from fatigue. As he looked ahead, he saw Siegfried amidst the spectral blue flames, looking over its shoulder at him, the dark hair at the back of its helmet and the coattails moving with the wind. With a curt nod, the Persona disappeared again, turning into small particles that returned to Daisuke.

“Amazing job!” Garm cheered, as Siegfried disappeared, “You are a natural.”

Daisuke smiled, looking at the dog, and passing his hand by his hair in an overdone attempt to look cool, like the heroes in manga. He was aware how dorky that was, but he couldn’t avoid it, it was stronger than him.

“Hey, watch out!” Garm cried suddenly, “It’s coming this way! The presence I felt!”

Daisuke turned from the dog to look at the street ahead. He took a battle stance again, ready to confront the killer or whomever they were chasing. Or so he thought. The figure that came running towards them caught him completely by surprise: Running away, being pursued by Shadows, was a familiar figure, his classmate: Tatsuya Mikado.

The blond boy was trying his hardest to outrun two Shadows, or what Daisuke assumed to be Shadows: They were vastly different from the ones that he had just fought with, in fact, they looked nothing alike besides the black, screen-like skin (or suit) they had around their bodies that displayed digital characters and numbers. They were shaped like large floating spheres, with mouths large enough to bite into the front of a car, with rows of shark-like teeth that moved within it, akin to a mechanical saw.

“Help!” Tatsuya cried out, as he looked forward.

Daisuke didn’t hesitate, running past his companion, as Siegfried emerged from within him, spinning amidst the air, slashing past the first of the spherical Shadows, it’s teeth denting and being stuck in the blade as it cut past, the Shadow’s own momentum contributing to its gutting. The second Shadow stopped in time, spinning around itself, floating backwards and away from Siegfried’s range, as the know nickered and serrated blade cut past its brethren, turning it to ashes and dark fumes.

The remaining Shadow roared, increasing the speed at which its teeth spun, the rows of teeth now a spiral of carnage, shining intensely as the moonlight hit it. Siegfried moved its sword elegantly, spinning it in its hands before in a flash, breaking it into shards that it held between its fingers. As Daisuke moved his hand towards the Shadow, pointer finger stretched, Siegfried shot the shards, arcing them across the fog, as the Shadow attempted to dodge, by spinning around itself in an erratic pattern, it eventually got struck by a shard, and then three more, until the second salvo obliterated it, cutting holes past its shell, until the Shadow sphere fell to the ground, rolling on its side only for a moment, then beginning to deflate and convert into a poodle of dark ooze and smoke.

As once again, Siegfried returned to him, Daisuke felt his fatigue worsen. He was feeling significantly more tired than before. Even if it wasn’t his actual corporeal body that was fighting the creatures, calling upon Siegfried seemed to eat into his own energy reserves, perhaps even more than if it was actually him attacking. A scary prospect came into his mind, if somehow, over-relying on Siegfried’s power might lead to him dying of exhaustion.

Still, he pushed those grim thoughts out of his mind, as he turned to look back, where Tatsuya was hunched over next to Garm, hands on his knees, panting from running away. As he noticed Daisuke approaching him, Tatsuya instantly took a defensive stance:

“Get away from me!” he said, seemingly by instinct before a realisation washed over his eyes, as he opened his mouth, “What the… Ichijou!?”

“It’s alright, don’t worry,” Daisuke reached to put a friendly hand on his shoulder. Tatsuya jumped up at the touch, but as shock subsided, he seemed to calm down, “You’re safe, right now.”

“Safe… Yeah, like hell,” he replied, his voice raspy from the ragged breathing, “Where the hell are we? What were those things? What… What the hell did you do to them?”

“You’re inside the Shadow World,” Garm said at his feet, “Those creatures that were pursuing you are called Shadows. Your friend used his P—”

“The dog is talking to me,” Tatsuya said before Garm could finish. He had an incredulous grin on his face, “Oh boy, is this the weirdest nightmare I ever had. Shadows? Shadow World? A bloody talking dog? I’m just surprised I’m dressed, to be honest.”

“Now that wouldn’t be very appropriate, would it?”

Daisuke felt his muscles tense up again, but this time, not from tiredness, but from the voice that came from further up the street, behind him. His bad feeling became worse still when he turned around to find another man walk towards them. A blood-red cloak went down to the man’s feet, the top of it trimmed with regal white and black fur. Underneath the cloak, the man wore what seemed to be a sports uniform, blue-grey shorts and a shirt of the same hue, but trimmed in white. A large number “1” was on the chest, with a horizontal line underneath it, and on the left side of the chest, the characters for “Kurosawa”. On top of the man’s golden hair was a slightly tilted to the side crown, made of gold, red velvet and a large number of small gemstones and pearls. His eyes were gold and cold, but his smile was devilish: Shadow Tatsuya strode towards them, cape dragging over the dirty cracked floor, and a golden, jewel encrusted sceptre in its hands.

“What the fuck…?” Tatsuya said, barely a whisper, but still clearly audible over the deafening silence.

“Do you not recognize yourself?” the Shadow asked. Like Daisuke’s, Tatsuya’s Shadow’s voice also had a very distorted, reverberating tone. It did, however, sound of a higher pitch and more flamboyant than the real Tatsuya’s voice, “Surely you jest. For I happen to be the Great King Tatsuya of House Mikado, King of Naoya and Sonomura City.”

“Tatsuya,” Daisuke called, holding his friend’s arm, “You need to accept it.”

“Accept it!?” Tatsuya’s tone was shrill, perfectly vocalizing the confused panic in his face, “What the hell are you talking about!?”

“Hands off me, filthy knave!” Shadow Tatsuya bellowed, moving his sceptre in an arc, as if taking a swing at Daisuke, metres away from him, “Isn’t it bad enough that you have come to spoil my fun in my own domain? Bloody, filthy commoner! To think that, when I was already finally starting to assert my dominance and my regal charm over the braindead commoners of this swamp of peasantry, you decide to drag your muddy, commoner feet all over it.”

Tatsuya looked on, shaking his head, incapable of speech. His Shadow had rendered him completely mute. Daisuke didn’t know what to do, as he wasn’t sure if attacking the Shadow could hurt his friend or not, and the real Tatsuya seemed to be completely deaf to his words.

“Such a shame, such a shame,” Shadow Tatsuya giggled sheepishly, spinning his sceptre, “To think that someone as smart, as handsome, as funny as me can’t really find a girl. It’s true, it’s true. I am King, aye, I am, but what does being king mean if my servants are nothing but ignorant, despicable vermin who don’t recognize me as their god!”

“Shut up!” Tatsuya snapped at once, “That’s not true! I don’t think that!”

Daisuke took a step forward then, placing himself between both Tatsuyas, hand at his side, ready to summon forth Siegfried. If the doppelgänger transformed, he wouldn’t hesitate, he’d stab through it like any other smaller Shadow.

“Oh? Moving forward, ay Lord Ichijou?” The Shadow widened its manic smirk, “Even here? Even in the land of the Shadows do you still insist on casting your own shadow over me? Why do you hate me, so? Is it because I hate you? That would make some sense, wouldn’t it? Because I do,” The Shadow’s smile disappeared, instead, it shot a piercing, hate-filled gaze at him, “You come to my domain. You try take my women. My land. My pride. Well, take a good shot then, Ichijou! To dethrone me, you have to kill me!”

“SHUT UP!” Tatsuya screamed, running towards the Shadow, pushing past Daisuke, lunging at his own image, pushing it to the ground, hands around its neck, “You’re not me! You’re not me! YOU’RE NOT ME!”

The Shadow’s sudden burst of laughter filled the streets, as Tatsuya looked in shock, pulling his hands away as the Shadow burst into bright blue flames with an unknown force pushing the blond boy away from it, throwing him rolling, tumbling across the ground until finally stopping, laid out on his back.

Daisuke rushed towards his fallen friend, as he tried his best to sit up, clenching his teeth in pain as he did, and as he did, the Shadow was now on its feet again, the flames dancing around it in a vortex of cobalt, growing and becoming livelier as it transformed.

“It became feral,” Garm lamented, retreating to next to the hurting Tatsuya, “It needs to be controlled if he has any chance at accepting it.”

The Shadow concluded its transformation with another bellowed laugh, this one of an even higher, more distorted pitch. What had before been a clone of Tatsuya was now a much taller humanoid covered in red robes with golden astral motifs, heavy-looking golden armour overlaid on top of them. The right hand held a long golden sword, whilst the left one seemed to be holding onto a sphere of yellow and orange energy of some kind. A large crown sat atop the red hood that covered the void where there should be a face, but where only a large, glowing Cheshire smile could be seen.

“I am a Shadow. The True Self.”

Daisuke stood back up again, facing the Shadow, standing in front of his two companions. Garm would be able to stop a charging attack, but he couldn’t actually defeat the Shadow.  Tatsuya seemed to be completely frozen in shock. It was up to him to stop it.

Before he could act, the Shadow put forward his left hand, where the energy globe expanded, shining with higher intensity. Suddenly, Daisuke felt himself began to be pulled towards it, like some unknown force was pushing and pulling him towards it, a force that only became stronger and stronger as the globe grew bigger and brighter.

“Come to me, my loyal servant!”

Daisuke tried to hold onto the floor with his hands but was pulled away from it, flying at a rapid speed towards the dome of energy and towards the Shadow’s sword, ready to skewer him.

“Siegfried!”

Spinning around himself by instinct, he crushed the card on his hand, as Siegfried put itself between master and foe, summoning a Glass sword that parried the incoming blow from Shadow Tatsuya’s sword, then throwing the sword itself at a vertiginous speed, so fast that it forced the Shadow to interrupt its pulling attack, to avoid having the blade of glass pierce through its force field and be lodged in its face.

Daisuke fell hard to the ground, landing with his full weight right on top of his left arm, crying out in pain as he rolled away from the momentarily staggered Shadow. His arm wasn’t broken, in the still logical part of his brain, he knew it, but the pain of falling over it was immense. The Shadow, however, was not about to back off, immediately going for a mighty overhead swing with its sword that forced Daisuke to throw himself to the side, rolling to dodge, feeling the pain on his hurt arm worsen.

As he barely managed to kneel, another overhead swing. This time, however, he summoned Siegfried to summon his own sword and parry it, using the larger and heavier blade’s own weight against it, making it slide to the ground beside it. Using every ounce of strength he could, Daisuke got back on his feet, rushing to attack the Shadow: A single well-aimed strike would suffice, right to the head hidden away behind the hood and the crown.

“Begone!”

The tip of the blade pierced through the globe of energy, but the Shadow’s attack was already locked, blasting Daisuke backwards, rolling across the ground, like it had thrust Tatsuya moments before. He felt every impact as he rolled across the ground, hitting the cobblestones, falling near where Garm and Tatsuya were.

“Ichijou!” Tatsuya called out in terror, seemingly breaking momentarily out of his trance.

Daisuke stumbled back onto his feet, pulling further more into his depleting energy reserves to stand. As he looked into Tatsuya’s shocked expression, he felt a trail of blood fall from a cut just above his brow. As his body ached from bruises and new found cuts, he looked towards the Shadow whose constant, otherworldly smile seemed to mock his futile attempts at fighting back.

“You still stand?” The Shadow laughed mercilessly, “Do you not know, fool? You need to kneel before your King!”

Daisuke walked forward, he summoned Siegfried again. He had one last idea. It didn’t seem to be a safe, or even very likely to work one, but it was that, or death. He walked a few more steps before throwing a short sword towards the Shadow that it easily dodge, slithering its long neck. The Shadow chuckled once more, as Daisuke threw a second one that missed again, arcing uselessly to fall on the ground behind the Shadow.

“Useless,” Shadow Tatsuya raised the globe on its hand again, “Is that your last shot? Pathetic.”

“Hey…” Daisuke looked back towards Tatsuya, stopping his walk, ignoring the Shadow’s provocations, “For what I’m concerned? You’re actually pretty cool.”

The Shadow’s attack triggered and once again, Daisuke was pulled towards it, as fast as a bullet. He didn’t have much energy to try and deflect the sword again, if he tried, most likely Shadow Tatsuya’s sword would break through his and kill him outright. It all gambled on his last ditch attempt.

“All hail the k--!”

The Shadow’s line was cut short. From behind it, shards of broken glass had shot at it and lodged themselves on its legs, and back. The broken remains of Siegfried’s seemingly throwaway last swords. Shadow Tatsuya’s gravity altering ability seemed to be targeted only towards who he wanted, but it pulled into it everything originating from the target. As the decoy swords were still manifested from Siegfried, they were a part of Daisuke.

“Siegfried!”

The hand of the knight reached forward, its claws digging into the sides of Shadow Tatsuya’s invisible head, the speed of his gravity-pull conferring extra strength to Daisuke’s Persona, as it threw him and the Shadow towards the ground with a large, thunderous sound, lifting up dust as the floor further cracking below them. As the Shadow’s attack ceased, stunned, Daisuke created a final sword, holding onto it with his own two hands as he drove it downwards through the mocking smile of the Shadow.

“Long live the king.”

The sword broke hundreds of small shards, being consumed by dark blue fire that took over the Shadow’s body. Daisuke threw his hurting body to the side, getting away from the burning remains of the shadow. As he sighed, closing his eyes, all the pain and fatigue returned to him all at once, as the adrenaline subsided. Next to him, the Shadow burned away, the fire growing smaller and smaller until it became smaller than Daisuke’s tired body by its side, returning to its previous form, the cloaked and crowned Tatsuya.

“Ichijou! Ichijou!”

Daisuke had his eyes closed when he heard the sounds of footsteps rushing towards him. He felt somebody pull him up by his hands, as Tatsuya, the real Tatsuya, looked at him with an intense, hard to read look. He pulled Daisuke’s injured left arm over his shoulder, trying to keep him standing:

“Are you alright?”

“Me?” Daisuke used his right hand to touch the blood gushing from his cut, “Yeah. Should’ve seen the other guy.”

Tatsuya made a half-smile, that didn’t hid his worry, but showcased his relief and gratitude. The Shadow, crown laying on the floor at its side, was now sitting down next to their feet, as Tatsuya’s eyes looked towards it with what seemed to be pity and revulsion.

“Oy, what I said before, I meant it,” he smiled and felt his body protest against it, “It doesn’t matter what you thought or what you did. It’s about what you’ll do.”

The Shadow pushed itself up back on its feet. Daisuke was bracing for Tatsuya to fall back, but he didn’t staying right where he was, looking at the eyes of his dark counterpart:

“What I’ll do, huh?” he asked with irony underneath the surface.

“Trust me on this one,” Daisuke asked, “The Shadow in front of you? Before you can improve you need to accept it as part of you. You won’t get anywhere by running or looking away, are you?”

“Doesn’t seem like it, does it?” Tatsuya nervously smiled. He looked to the Shadow for a few brief moments more, before letting out a sigh and looking down at the ground: “Fine… I’m no King. I only like to think I am. Back in Sonomura I was just another asshole walking around. Nobody really looked at me, even after I tried to stand out, trying to be the funniest, or the best at sports. Hell, I even dyed my hair to look cooler, but even then I didn’t stand out at all.”

Tatsuya bit his lip. As Daisuke felt some of his strength returning, he took his arm off his companion’s shoulder, patting him on the back as encouragement to keep going.

“When my dad told me we were moving to Naoya, I got really bummed about it, but then I realized something,” he looked not at the Shadow now, but at Daisuke, “Nobody knew me here. I was coming in hot, ready to be a celebrity: the new kid on the block. Guess how well that turned out when I wasn’t that cool here either,” he shook his head, “You dick, you got here and immediately everyone looks at you like you’re the coolest bastard around.”

“They really don’t,” Daisuke shrugged.

“Well I see it like that,” Tatsuya mumbled, “I guess I envied you, but in my head I kept thinking that you were trying to take away my spot. Like everyone else. Everyone was conspiring to dethrone me,” he let out a pained chuckle, “Hell, I wish I even had a chair, let alone a throne.”

Tatsuya moved a hand through his hair, pulling it back before letting it fall over his forehead again. He walked towards his Shadow:

“No other way about it, you’re me. A royal pain.”

Tatsuya’s sad smile was replicated exactly by his Shadow moments before it burst into vivid flames once again. Next to Daisuke’s leg, Garm jumped up in excitement, as Tatsuya’s former Shadow transformed into his Persona: A large humanoid wearing a black tunic underneath white and bronze armour, with astral motifs. Large ring armlets were wrapped around its arms and legs, which seemed to shine brighter at every small movement. The face seemed to be cast in bronze, with its eyes being completely white, and its short hair of a bright blond underneath a medieval black crown.

_“I am thou. Thou art I. I am King Arthur. I shall be the sword with which you shall cut through falsehood and reveal truth."_

With a flash of light, Arthur, Tatsuya’s Persona joined with his master, as their contract was sealed. Feeling the sudden shift in himself, Tatsuya stumbled a bit with his hand on his chest, being helped by Daisuke to stay Standing.

“Welcome, aboard,” Garm said with a large grin, “Emperor.”

 

 


	7. Linking the Chain

Old, cracked stone grey walls formed a narrow alleyway that ended in a brick wall. While no place seemed to be particularly safe inside that hellscape, at the very least, the dead end behind them made it so that if enemies attacked, they would have to do it from where they could see them.

As they had left the main streets, trying their best to avoid detection by any other wayward Shadow, Daisuke had felt his whole body ache, as the adrenaline vanished and his body began to realize just how much energy it had expended whilst summoning and controlling his new powers. Of course, tiredness and soreness weren’t his only tormenters, as the bruises and the cuts he had suffered whilst fighting Shadow Tatsuya, whilst not enough to throw him on a sick bed, gave him a constant nagging pain at every step. He had used paper tissues he had in his bag to clean the blood of his face. The cut had stopped bleeding, but he didn’t know how bad it was. He wanted to throw himself on the ground and sleep the night away, and yet, the idea that they might get attacked at any minute by another monster kept him firmly on his feet, always prepared to jump at any sudden movement or loud sound.

Like him, Tatsuya seemed to be absolutely spent, leaning against one of the walls, with irregular breaths. As Garm had taken a brief absence, going back to check if they weren’t followed, he had instructed the two boys to not speak, so as to not alert any patrolling creature. After what had been only a few brief moments, they heard the sound of Garm returning, his bright yellow eyes like headlights in the middle of the fog. As the dog told them that they were safe, Tatsuya instantly pushed himself off the wall:

“Right… Can I get some explanations now?”

As soon as he asked something, answers were promptly given to him. As he rapid fired question after question, his weariness seemed to be gradually replaced with an intense interest and curiosity, as Garm, and occasionally Daisuke, did their best to satiate his thirst for answers: From where exactly they were, to what were Shadows and Personas and, eventually, even asking about Mayoi Yumeno’s murder.

“She was killed then?” he asked, not hiding a bit of nervousness in his speech, “She didn’t just accidentally end up here like us, right?”

“No,” Garm shook his small head, “Someone brought her here and left her for dead.”

“Shit…” Tatsuya passed a hand through his dyed hair, strands of it falling over his face, “I can’t believe this… Not like talking to a dog in a weird alternate dimension or something isn’t crazy or anything, but somehow, boring old Naoya having a killer on the loose? That blows my mind.”

“He won’t be on the loose for long,” Daisuke asserted. He closed his fist, hitting his chest: “I’ll stop him.”

“By yourself?” A grin appeared on his face. A bit of his normal disposition shining through, “I don’t think that’ll work out, you know? Does a bonehead like you really make the best detective?”

“Excuse me?” Daisuke raised an eyebrow. Even if his tone was evidently mocking, he had very nearly startled the other boy, “I just saved your sorry ass.”

“Oh sure, I never said you can’t fight your way out, but you need a brain on the operation,” Tatsuya tapped his temple with his finger, “I wanna help.”

Daisuke continued to make his fake-distrusting expression for a while longer before finally, dropping his act, shaking Tatsuya’s hand as he stretched it out to him. As he shook his friend’s hand and even smiled, it was unavoidable for him to think how strange that really was. Even back during his days in the gang, he had never felt any real sense of friendship or camaraderie from his fellow ruffians. And yet, only knowing Tatsuya Mikado for a few days only, he was confident enough in calling him a friend.

Somehow, the prospect of stopping the unknown murderer seemed a lot less daunting and impossible now that there were two of them. Garm barked cheerfully as well, to make his position on their new acquisition known:

“Very well then, Emperor, kneel so I can open your eyes then.”

“Ah… Emperor’s a cool nickname and all,” he raised an eyebrow, “But should emperors kneel? Also… I don’t like that look, devildog.”

“Just get on with it,” Daisuke pushed him lightly on the shoulder, “Don’t worry. He’s gonna make you see through the fog.”

Tatsuya’s raised eyebrow climbed another full floor, yet he relented, kneeling down cautiously in front of Garm. As Tatsuya closed his eyes with fervour and readied his face for what looked like being punched in the face, Garm approached him like had done to Daisuke before, and touched him on the face. As he did, a bright spark appeared at the point of contact.

“Ow!” Tatsuya staggered backwards, falling on his bottom. He took both hands to his still closed eyes, rubbing them vigorously, “Shit! That hurt! What the hell did you…” his sentence had trailed off as he had opened his eyes again. He looked in wonderment around him, to the walls, to Daisuke and then to Garm again, “It… It actually worked.”

“I’m a professional,” Garm said smugly, ears perked up.

“You still could’ve warned me though, that stings,” Tatsuya retorted as he pushed himself back up, patting down his pants in an effort to clean them.

Garm shot him a mischievous grin is response, with Tatsuya responding immediately by crossing his arms and staring the mutt down. As their wordless but intense communication continued for a few moments, Daisuke wondered if they were engaged on some time of competition to prove which of the two would be the alpha male. Still, as he began to feel hunger begin to eat away at his stomach, he fake coughed to call the others attention:

“Anyway…” he said, “Garm, can you tell us the way out of here?”

“The way out…?” he tilted his head, “Hum, I do suppose you would need something like that wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah…” Daisuke gave him a slow nod, “It’s kind of important.”

“Oh yeah, right,” Garm nodded. He couldn’t really tell what the odd look in the dog’s eyes was as he looked away, “You told me that you both entered here by using an… ‘app’, was it?”

“Yeah,” Tatsuya nodded, taking his phone from his pocket, “It just showed up this morning on my phone. Once I pressed on it, I was suddenly in this place. I tried pressing on it again but it gave me a weird sort of error message and didn’t do anything.”

Tatsuya’s story seemed to fit perfectly with Daisuke’s, although he hadn’t tried to use the app again, as at the time he had instantly been pursued by the hunched over, large-armed Shadows. He proceeded to imitate Tatsuya, also taking his phone back out and taking another look at it: Like before, the screen showed a digital clock whose numbers kept changing, seemingly at random, never staying the same for more than a second. Underneath the clock was a larger version of the app icon he had pressed to take him there, with a black five-pointed star in a square frame. Something had changed however: The frame that was previously a deep vermillion, was now white.

“It changed,” he commented out loud, flipping his phone to show the others, “It was red when I saw it the last time.”

“Hum… Then I guess that’s your way back out,” Garm theorized, “You saw that the normal, non-human Shadows have these characters running through them right? They will also cause the lights to flicker and electrically powered objects to go crazy.”

“Then… The app, the gate, it closes down if we’re close to Shadows?” Daisuke asked, pulling his phone to look at it again. The frame remained white.

“I assume that’s what it is,” Garm tilted his head, “Of course, I can’t know for sure.”

“Bloody fantastic...” Tatsuya sighed, slumping his shoulders. As none of the others said anything for a bit, he then took a deep breath, “Well, damn it, might as well give it a shot. Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah,” Daisuke agreed.

He watched as Tatsuya stepped away from them, looking down at his phone. He glanced back at them one last time, before finally pressing down on the screen. A flash of light overtook the street, blinding Daisuke despite his efforts to use his arms to block out the light. Soon enough, however, the brightness dimmed and, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness again, there was no sign of Tatsuya anywhere on the street. Either he had successfully gone back to Naoya, or he had somehow went even deeper. For his companion’s sake, and his own, he hoped it was the former.

 _Guess it’s my turn now_ , he thought after a moment of silent contemplation. He walked towards the spot where Tatsuya had been standing and, like him, held his phone in front of him. Before he pressed on the app, however, he took another look back at Garm. The dog stood in the same spot, looking at him expectantly.

“We’ll be back,” Daisuke reassured him.

“I’ll be waiting,” the canine nodded, waggling his tail, “See you soon!”

Daisuke nodded in response. He then turned again to look at his phone and pressed on the app. Even if he was expecting it, pre-emptively closing his eyes, he still had to move his head away as the blast of white light overtook his body and he felt, once more, the uncomfortable sensation of being pulled away. Like the world had been dragged out from under his feet, making him float in an uncertain void for just a brief moment, before his feet felt hard ground beneath them once more.

He stumbled as he regained control of his body, feeling someone steady him with hands on his shoulders. As he opened his eyes, seeing Tatsuya in front of him, helping him stay on his feet.

“Careful there, mate,” Tatsuya laughed.”

Daisuke steadied himself as Tatsuya let go of him, taking a step back. As he took a long look around, the lack of the oppressive red fog instantly told him that the two of them had successfully escaped the other world. A second look made it clear that the alleyway on the other side was an exact copy of that one underneath the layer of rust and dried blood. It outright proved the theory that the two worlds were, as Garm had put it, ‘two sides of the same coin’.

“Do you know where we are?” Daisuke asked as he took a quick look at his phone, revealing it was back to normal.

“Yeah, I went ahead and checked while I was waiting for you,” Tatsuya said, pointing to the end of the street, “We’re close to Iwanaoya Shrine. We’re back.”

Close to the shrine. That meant they were on the west side of the town. They had covered quite a lot more ground than he had thought. He took another look around, searching for signs of Garm, but his canine friend was not there, likely staying behind on the other side. He felt a pinch of guilt, as he wondered if he would be alright there by himself, but then rationalized that if he had been living there his whole life, he would be fine. Or so he hoped.

“Oh yeah, one thing…” Tatsuya said, pulling an amusing expression, “We didn’t just have a weird shared dream or anything like that, right? That was real?”

“That was real,” Daisuke confirmed, even if he grimaced, “I mean… it has to be, right?”

“Yeah… I guess so, “Tatsuya shrugged. He then grinned: “Well whatever. What matters is that now we have some answers. And we have a way to try and stop the person who killed Yumeno-senpai!” he stretched his hand towards him: “Let’s do this.”

Daisuke promptly shook his hand. With Tatsuya’s help, their odds were looking a lot brighter, even if the dangers were still very real. Although they still didn’t have all the answers they wanted, like how the app had appeared on their phone, or what the Dead Phone Watch was exactly, at least now they had some way to fight back. It was then that he remembered something. Besides Tatsuya, there was another person who knew about the Watch. Another person that, like them, maybe had gotten the app and could be in danger:

“Riko!” he said out loud.

“Huh?”

“Riko knows about the Watch too,” he explained.

“Oh. Oh!” The realization seemed to hit Tatsuya like a truck, “Do you think she also got the app!?”

“Text her,” Daisuke ushered, “Ask her if she noticed a strange app on her phone. Hurry!”

Tatsuya instantly took out the phone he had just stored away, unlocking it and rushing towards his messages. As he typed, Daisuke was already thinking about how they would have to approach entering again, as they were now a lot more tired than a few hours ago. Fighting more Shadows with their current fatigue could prove disastrous, maybe even fatal. His thoughts were put on hold when he heard Tatsuya’s phone buzz. Under his expectant stare, the blond boy let out a sigh of relief:

“She doesn’t,” Tatsuya said, already working on sending another message, “But… now she wants to know why I’m asking.”

“Make something up,” Daisuke suggested, scratching his head-

Tatsuya shot him a disgruntled look but complied, writing a reply: “Ok, I told her that I had read about a malware that installed weird apps. Pretty sure she won’t believe me, but not much else I can do without telling her about that place.”

“You won’t tell her?”

“Of course not!” Tatsuya seemed even shocked at the insinuation, “The less people that know about it the better, don’t you think?”

“I agree with that,” Daisuke said, raising his open hands to confer extra meaning to his words, “But remember that she was the one who told us about the Dead Phone Watch. And we don’t know why we suddenly got the app. She didn’t have it yet, but maybe it can appear tomorrow.”

Tatsuya frowned as he looked away. Daisuke understood him, as far as he was concerned, nobody should know about what they had seen on the other side. The reaction of the masses would be catastrophic, perhaps even worse than the murders by themselves. Whatever that world was, should remain a secret until they could understand it. He didn’t want to drag Riko with them, and expose her to her own Shadow. That could possibly even put their own lives in jeopardy. But on the other hand, letting Riko in the dark could prove to be dangerous to her too.

“Let’s… Let’s sleep on it,” Daisuke said finally, “We’ll think about what to say tomorrow.”

Tatsuya looked back at him for a moment, then giving him a half-hearted nod. It appeared as if their struggles were only just starting. That night had been just the first battle.

 

* * *

 

Daisuke raised his hand to cover his eyes, trying his best to avoid the rays of sunlight that seemed to mock how awful he felt. Even if the night of sleep had helped diminish his mental and physical fatigue, his body still protested at every step he took and whenever he had to press his arms or legs against anything, he felt a sharp pinch of pain from a new bruise he didn’t even know existed. He had a bit haphazardly placed a Band-Aid over the cut on his brow that the night before had bled profusely. Despite how much he had bled, the cut itself wasn’t as big or as deep as he had feared, yet he was still anxious about the reaction his aunt would have if she saw his hurt face. Her nursing expertise would certainly help him heal better, but there was no way she would ever believe him if he tried to come up with just any lie about how he had injured himself. She would instantly assume he was back to his criminal ways, and warn his parents. After that, would he be sent to a detention centre? Or would his parents try to find another alternate form of less severe punishment? Whatever it was, he couldn’t let it happen: he now had a mission to fulfil.

As he passed by the gates to Kurosawa, he put those thoughts for later. He'd worry about what he’d have to do after he was done with classes. He climbed up the stairs to the second floor, finding a group of his classmates waiting by the door. From their expressions of dread, Daisuke, who in his daze hadn’t even bothered to check what class they were going to have, immediately knew the first face to greet them that morning would be Sakakibara’s.

“Hey!”

He turned to look towards the voice, where Riko greeted him with a smile that soon gave way to a perplexed look:

“What happened to your face?”

“Hi to you too,” he replied, moving his head away so she couldn’t take a good look, “Tripped and took a bad fall yesterday.”

“Do you often fall on your face?” she instantly pressed. That wasn’t the best lie he could’ve come up with, by far.

Thankfully for him, the sound of steps and a large yawn coming from behind him announced the arrival of Tatsuya. Even if he lacked Daisuke’s more severe injuries, it was obvious that he was also dead tired, with heavy-lidded eyes, and a hand in front of his mouth to contain more yawning.

“Mornin',” he greeted with slurry speech. He smiled at Riko, and then looked to her side at Daisuke, “Damn, you look like shit.”

 _And whose fault is that?_ Daisuke complained mentally. Under Riko’s scrutinizing gaze, however, it was best to just repeat his barely credible story of falling down. In his stupor, Tatsuya seemed to even have difficulty understanding his friend’s cover story. But at least, that implied that they hadn’t been together at the time Daisuke had injured himself. Riko looked as distrusting as she could ever look, and yet, as the bell rang, announcing the start of the first class, her eventual inquisition was cut short.

As expected of him, Sakakibara was already inside the classroom, standing in an upright posture as his students walked past him. Daisuke noticed him sneaking a glance at him and do a barely perceptible scoff, as if he was overjoyed at seeing his student’s injury. As Daisuke sat down behind his desk, he could hear whispers about how the new kid looked to have been beaten up and potential theories as to how that happened. Some suggested that he had probably had tried out for the Kendo or the boxing club. The guy on the other side of Riko’s desk had suggested, loud enough for him to hear, that he was probably a gang member. It was impossible for him to avoid a sardonic grin.

Still, in something that felt plainly out of character, Sakakibara didn’t fixate on him too much that day, instead, for once, actually focusing on teaching. Whilst the occasional mean spirited comment was thrown out, he seemed to be a lot more mellowed in his approach. While a change for the better, Daisuke wondered if that had less to do with a sudden improvement of his character and more to do with consequences of Yumeno’s sudden passing. Even for those that didn’t actually know the girl, it was still a shocking and horrifying event that had left a dark, gloomy cloud to spread over the school. It would be weeks, if not months, before that climate of pure dread was gone. If it would ever be truly gone.

As the morning continued to advance at a sluggish pace, Daisuke noticed that Riko would very often sneak glances at him and Tatsuya. Not only was it obvious that she still wanted to push Daisuke on the true origins of his injuries, but it was also very likely that she had not forgotten the odd texts Tatsuya had sent her the night before. So as the bell rang for lunchtime, she immediately turned on her chair to be able to face Daisuke:

“Ok, spill the beans,” she said in low tone of voice, “What happened?”

He didn’t respond immediately, instead looking around the room. Most students left the classroom when it was lunchtime, however, some always remained, eating from their boxed lunches. He had intended for everyone close to them to have left, so they wouldn’t be overheard, yet that plan soon got sunk, as Kunizuka, the girl in front of him was still there. With that option closed out, he proceeded to the second one, telling the others to come with him onto the hallway. Riko’s face grew more and more frustrated as they stepped further away from the classroom doors, stopping next to the door to the music room.

“Can you tell me now?” Riko said, arms crossed, “What the hell did you two do last night? Why did you ask me about my phone?”

Daisuke glanced at Tatsuya before answering, and then took his hand into his pocket, taking out his phone and unlocking it, spinning it to show Riko.

“Cool wallpaper, but what should I be looking at?” she grimaced.

“You see the app with the star in the red square?” he pointed to it with his left hand, “It appeared on my phone yesterday. Same thing for Tatsuya.”

Despite looking half-asleep, Tatsuya nodded to corroborate his friend’s account. Riko looked to him without changing her expression, and then back to Daisuke:

“So…? What’s the deal with it?”

Tatsuya leaned forward, the suddenness of his gesture made her move her face away on instinct. He looked to both ends of the hallway, to check if someone could be listening to them, and then back to Riko, talking in something barely louder than a whisper:

“That app opens a portal to an alternate dimension.”

Riko looked to him, with a completely stone-faced expression:

“Bugger off.”

“I’m serious!” Tatsuya reiterated with such vigour she almost jumped, “When I touched it yesterday, I was transported to like, this effed up version of the town. It was like something out of a movie or something. It was full of this red fog that made it really hard to see and breathe.”

“And then what? A talking robot cat bailed you out?” she mocked.

“Actually…” he looked up, “It was a dog.”

“I hate you,” Riko scoffed with her eyes narrowing. She had turned to walk away when Daisuke held her arm, “What?”

“Do you think we could just make up something so ridiculous and expect you to believe it?” He let go of her as soon as she had turned back around, “The Dead Phone Watch also doesn’t make sense. It should be impossible too, right?”

“Well… Yeah,” his words seemed to have dissuaded her a bit, yet she still looked back at him with doubts once more, “But you gotta admit that weird transmissions and an alternate dimension you actually went to aren’t exactly on the same level of unbelievable.”

“But we’re telling the truth!” Tatsuya said, once again louder than it would be advisable, “And there’s more: The Watch is connected to that world. Because that’s where Yumeno-senpai died.”

“And her death wasn’t an accident,” Daisuke added, “She was murdered.”

Riko’s belief in them seemed to have been growing up until then. That point had made her open her eyes wider than ever before. When she regained some composure, her expression became much grimmer. They had made a wrong move:

“You two are actually insane!” she said with fervour, but still only a whisper in volume, “Yumeno-senpai was murdered in an alternate dimension? How can you even lie about that!?”

“It’s not a lie!” Tatsuya responded once more, “Come with us! We can show you!”

Riko seemed absolutely shaken by their conversation. In her expression, Daisuke could see how much she wanted to believe them, but the rational part of her insisted that what they were telling her was impossible. Even if it was frustrating for them, he knew that it was too much to expect someone to believe them without actually seeing it with their own eyes, and even then some doubts would still remain. Tatsuya, who had previously been hesitant about telling her, was now ardently trying to get her on their side, but even if Daisuke knew it was better for her to come with them, rather than accidentally enter by herself, the idea of putting the girl in danger bothered him immensely.

“I…” she mumbled after a while.

“Mikado-senpai!”

Their conversation suddenly halted as they heard an energetic voice coming from down the hallway. As they turned around, they saw a short student with a buzz cut walking briskly towards them. He wore the blue-grey tracksuit that was the school’s PE uniform.

“Oh, Matsuda,” Tatsuya said, taking a step away from his companions to greet the new arrival, “Sorry, this is a bad time, mind waiting a bit?”

“It’s important, senpai,” the short boy replied, “Did you know that Coach Fukunaba won’t be back for the term?”

“What…?” Tatsuya looked at his junior with a raised eyebrow, “What do you mean he ‘won’t be back’?”

“Coach is on sick leave. They got someone to substitute him for the classes,” Matsuda looked away, as if fearful of his upperclassman’s reaction, “But the club has another advisor... Mr. Sakakibara.”

“Sakakibara!?”

Tatsuya’s shout had been so loud that even people on the other end of the hallway had surely heard him. Daisuke bit his lip. That was exactly what they didn’t need: for Tatsuya to become distracted and for their important conversation to get abruptly interrupted. If it was bad, it soon grew worse, as from the other side of the hallway appeared the one person that could further aggravate the situation: Suneo Sakakibara himself.

“That’s my name, Mikado,” the teacher replied in a scornful tone, “Please address me with the correct honorific.”

“Why are you the volleyball club’s advisor!?” Tatsuya instantly fired with fists clenched, “What do you know about the sport?”

“I know that a lazy, insubordinate student such as yourself is not fit to be captain,” Despite being shorter than Tatsuya and looking up at him, he did it with a palpable arrogance and disdain, “I am removing you from the position.”

“That’s bullshit!” Tatsuya roared at him. His shouting had made it so a small crowd had begun to form around them, as dozens of curious onlookers wanted to see what was behind all the noise, “You can’t do that!”

“Oh I can, and I will,” Sakakibara grinned venomously, “Not only that. With this little show you are putting on, you have given me grounds to remove you from the club entirely."

Tatsuya looked ready to jump and attack Sakakibara, to launch himself at his neck and choke him to death. He probably would have done it if not for his underclassman, Matsuda, and Daisuke both rushing to hold him down by the arms. Tatsuya shot them angry looks, but his rage immediately switched back to Sakakibara.

“You city folk do stick together, don’t you?” the teacher spat as he recognized Daisuke, but then looked at Tatsuya again, “Make sure you turn up for detention later today. And behave Mikado, or it’s not just the club: I’ll make sure you get expelled.”

Putting a final stone on the issue, the teacher left them one last look, before he turned around, walking back down the hallway. Those curious students who had lingered to see the fallout where corralled away by the teacher as he left in his heavy steps, or by the death glares that both Daisuke and Riko shot at them. Eventually, the short boy that was apparently part of the volleyball club had left hurriedly as well, probably fearing being punished by association. Only Tatsuya, Daisuke and Riko remained.

“Are you ok…?” Riko asked.

“I’m fine,” Tatsuya said through gritted teeth. It was the farthest from the truth he had been the whole morning, “Your proof will have to wait then, seems I have detention today.”

Before the others got a chance to talk again, he had begun walking away back towards the classroom as the bell that announced the end of lunchtime rang throughout the hallway. Riko and Daisuke shared a look that expressed their shared concern.

As the day progressed and the classes had resumed, Tatsuya's disposition had eventually began to mellow significantly. While his anger and his sense of being unjustly punished were still very much there, he had at least managed to hide his rage enough to not shout every other word he said. Still, his usual loud and outspoken self was not heard from again that day. When classes ended, he didn't follow his friends outside, instead making his way to the faculty office, where he'd have to reluctantly report to Sakakibara.

As Daisuke and Riko left the school premises together, he noticed that the girl occasionally looked back at the school, clearly worried about their mutual friend, yet didn't actually speak until they reached the main street roundabout, where they would split off to go to their separate houses.

"Well... See ya tomorrow, then," Daisuke said, adjusting his school bag to his shoulder.

"See ya," she mumbled, staying in place as he had begun to turn around and walk away, "Hey, Daisuke-kun?"

"Yeah?" he asked, half-turning to look at her.

"Were you guys really being serious?" she looked at her feet, in thought, and then back at him, "Tatsuya wouldn't be stubborn enough to get himself in trouble to try and sell a dumb joke like that, right? And... That thing over your eye, you got heart there, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he replied dryly, with a slight nod, "We didn't lie to you. That place is real."

"Then... Take me there," she said, looking up at him, "I want to see it."

From her expression, it was clear that she still had large doubts over if she should actually believe anything of what they had said, but there was also a determination in wanting to believe them and to see that place with her very own eyes. Daisuke had reservations about it, knowing how dangerous it would be for her to venture along with them into that place, yet still, they had already told her about it. If they didn't escort her there, there was always the possibility that she could just randomly get the app, like it had happened to them, and she'd be in a lot more danger than she would've been with them accompanying her.

"Fine," he agreed after a moment of silent deliberation, "We'll go together."

 


	8. Strength to Fight

The sun’s warmth did not reach Naoya that day. Clouds covered the skies, a dreadful overcast weather that warned of heavy rainfall to come. To further complicate the matters, what had, days before, been just a somewhat cold breeze, had further escalated into strong winds that made the already cold weather even more glacial. It was hard for anyone to want to leave the warmth of their homes that day.

And yet leave home was precisely what Daisuke was required to do, as he closed the door behind him, using his spare keys to lock it. Aunt Saeko had went to do her shift at the hospital, and would only return at night, which gave him time to do what he needed. It only took for him to take a few steps away from the house and the small garden walls, before he was assaulted by a chilling burst of wind that forced him to pull his open black hoodie closer to his body; his attempts at warming himself self-frustrated by his almost obsessive need to keep his sleeves rolled up. He didn’t really know why, and even thought it stupid in truth, but keeping the sleeves in their proper place was just something he could never do.

On a normal week, he would be quite pleased to reach Sunday and get a break from school, yet that Sunday would be quite more arduous than any he had probably faced before. As he began to make his way across town, hands firmly in the pockets of his jeans, his breath visible ahead of him; he was already thinking ahead to what he’d have to do, and what he’d face once he got to his destination:

Once more, he’d have to use the mysterious undeletable app. The gateway into that other place, as strange and incomprehensible as it was scary and dangerous. Over the past few days now, he had continued to wonder if what he had experienced before was actually real. His brain insisted with him that it wasn’t, that it could not possibly be true. Of course, that was not really something that was hard to dismiss, after all, he was talking about a strange nightmare realm covered in red fog, and where monsters and monstrous versions of real people lurked, waiting eagerly for prey to feed on. It was only the type of thing to appear in some cheap throwaway novel or show, not something that could ever be real.

And yet, he had the injuries to back up his story. His side was still bruised. A cut, albeit now dried, was still on his forehead. He had fought those monsters; he had not imagined them. Furthermore, he has a witness that could corroborate his tale. A witness that he was about to meet once more.

“Oy, there he is!”

Daisuke had just left a side alley and exited into the high street of the town’s shopping district when he had heard the voice call for him. Looking up, he was quick to find Tatsuya. As if the dyed blonde hair wasn’t easy enough to spot, the bright yellow crew jacket he wore over a black t-shirt made him a human lighthouse. Thankfully, from his body language, it seemed like he had returned to normal or, at least, had managed to put his anger at his suspension from club in the back of his mind.

By the blonde’s side was the other person that Daisuke was supposed to meet: Riko, with her hands firmly hidden in the pockets of her zipped up orange hoodie, the tassels of her striped wool hat flapping in the breeze like wind charms. Apparently impervious to the cold, she still wore shorts and sneakers instead of more protective garment. Daisuke admired her bravery.

“I was thinking you’d be a no-show, mate,” Tatsuya said, rubbing his arms with great drive, trying to ward away the cold.

“Sorry, I had something to take care of back home.”

“No problem but let’s move already. I’m freezing!” Tatsuya’s voice had risen as his sentence prolonged, as if he was paving the way for a sneeze that never actually came. “Anyway… You saw my text, right?”

“I did,” Daisuke nodded, recalling the night before, “But I still struggle to see where exactly you intend to get weapons. I can’t really see where you can get them here. Do you just want to get a pipe or a golf club?”

“Not quite,” the blond grinned, using his thumb to signal Riko, “We’ve got a special dealer.”

Daisuke looked at Riko with a raised eyebrow; she was quick to reply to his silent query:

“You know Ami Sakura from our class?”

“Ah… Kind of?”

“Long hair, glasses, always raises her hand for questions,” Tatsuya listed. “Nice rack.”

“Charming,” Riko side-eyed him with murderous intent, before turning her sight back on Daisuke, “Sakura-san’s grandma owns a store here in the district. We can get our weapons there… Probably.”

A… weapons dealing grandma? It was tough for Daisuke to get a clear mental picture of it, without his mind over exaggerating it to a rickety old lady in body armour and a helmet, carrying an assault rifle in one hand, and a rocket launcher in the other. He put his hand in front of his mouth in order to hide his chuckling at the concept.

“It’s an antique shop,” Riko said, as if guessing what he had conjured up in his mind. “I’ve been there before. They might not be exactly in their prime condition, but I guess we can try and see if she has a sword or two.”

That made more sense, he thought, even if he was disappointed he wouldn’t get to meet “General Nobu-nana”. He had initially been sceptical over the idea of bringing weapons into the other side, as, since they already had their Personas to rely on, it seemed sort of pointless. However, after some introspection, he concluded that it was not a bad idea to have a plan B to rely on. Given how energy consuming using their Personas seemed to truly be, perhaps having a weapon to strike lesser Shadows with could be a viable strategy for them.

They had only to walk for a bit longer before they reached the moderately small, inconspicuous store. The wooden sign over the door was painted jade green and had cherry blossom branches painted on it, next to the words “Sakura Antiques”. On the other side of the show window was a large set of different objects: hand painted vases, mirrors, lamps, statuettes, artisanal combs and, what drew Daisuke’s eye, a katana in a black scabbard. The antiquity of the objects seemed to be variable, yet, at least the ones in display, were all in great condition.

A bell chimed as they passed through the wooden door, finding on the inside a quite cramped room, with trinkets as varied as the ones on the show window being placed, sometimes haphazardly, on rows of shelves on the walls. A few extra shelves for display were also lined in the middle of the store, as were a few boxes with assorted objects. At the end of the room was a counter that also served as a display case for jewellery and other smaller, more precious trinkets. An old woman with greying hair in a bun had perked up to look at the newly arrived costumers. Daisuke was disappointed in the lack of a war helmet on the store owner’s head.

“Good morning,” the lady greeted them as Riko approached the counter. “Ah, I recognize you, don’t I? You’re the daughter of that nice couple from the textile shop.”

“I am, that’s right,” Riko smiled in response, although it was easy to spot she wasn’t happy about being recognized. Old lady might talk about their purchases to people who shouldn’t know of them.

“You are my Ami-chan’s classmate too, she did mention you were a nice girl. Are these boys your friends?”

“Yep, we’re Ami’s classmates too,” Tatsuya told her, doing a bad job at trying to hide his lack of patience.

“Very well, very well,” the old lady chuckled to herself, hiding her face behind a sleeve momentarily, “So, young’uns, tell me what you are looking for.”

Riko shot a glance towards her companions, one that asked for help. “Weapons” was not hard to say, but finding a way to say it in a way that didn’t sell their group as a potential militia in the making, was a lot harder. ´

“T-this may sound strange…” Riko said, half mumbling, “But we were looking for some old weapons. They don’t have to be sharp or anything! We, we’re… my friend there,” she made a gesture towards Daisuke with her left hand, leaving him frozen clutching an old jewel case at the end of the room, “He’s a real enthusiast about samurai movies. Ninjas too! He got us all interested in learning more about it, so now we wanted to maybe build our own collection of relics of that time.”

“Oh, is that true, dearie?” the shop owner turned to look at the still case-holding frozen Daisuke.

“Y-yeah,” he nodded perhaps too enthusiastically, laying down the case, “I think it’s honestly fascinating. Our history teacher always says that we need to understand the past to know the future.”

Tatsuya’s look at him was a clear silent “He does?”, yet thankfully, he didn’t break character explicitly enough. A single look at granny Sakura was enough to tell that she was not particularly convinced that they were telling the truth. Honestly, who could blame her, all three of them looked like they were lying about stealing whilst holding the stolen goods in front of them. Yet, for one reason or another, she did not press them further, she simply nodded putting on a smile that was both calm, and maternally, as it was vaguely foreboding.

“We have a few of them around the store,” she said, starting to pace behind the counter, “Granted, not all of them are in the best state, but you are sure to get a lot for your collection from even a broken handle, I’m sure.”

Daisuke awkwardly and robotically nodded, going behind a shelf to both procure one of said weapons, but also just to break the line of sight with the old lady. Somehow, he thought, that nice granny was a lot more terrifying than the gun wielding super soldier he had imagined. Still, she had not lied about the selection on choice: as disorganized as it was, that store did have a shocking variety of antique weaponry available for him to choose.

He picked up a dagger with a cross guard, more reminiscent of an European style, but dropped it quickly, as the blade was extremely blunt, and it lacked proper reach. He tried a set of two sticks that were apparently used in some martial art, but he found them underwhelming, at least for him. His last pick for a weapon was, he thought, only natural: He clutched the sword that had been on the shop window. Range, weight, simplicity were all up to the standards he wanted, there wasn’t much of a point for him to try and look around more. The handle, covered in black leather strips ended in a circular guard, with the long and apparently still sharp blade extended on the other side.

“Found mine,” Daisuke announced, loud enough for his friends to hear him, not loud enough for the store owner. He hoped.

“A sword huh?” Tatsuya had been hiding on the other side of the shelf, his face popping out over it, “Not giving you points for originality, but I guess it fits you.”

“What did you get?”

Tatsuya grinned, before he lowered himself again and jumped from the other side to near Daisuke, revealing to him the weapon in his hands: On his right hand he was carrying a small scythe blade on a wooden handle, from which a rather long metal chain extended, ending on a dense metal weight that Tatsuya held on his other hand.

“Pretty cool, right?” the blond spun the weighted chain, nearly knocking it into a precariously placed vase. “It’s a kusarigama.”

“Do you even know how to wield that…?”

“Sure!” his confidence was enviable, even if probably unfounded, “Hit ‘em with the chain if they’re far, hack ‘em with the scythe when they’re near:”

“Assuming anybody would even think about going near you…” Riko teased, walking up from the other side, placing herself to Daisuke’s left. Ignoring Tatsuya’s chagrined look, she showed the both of them her chosen weapon: a pair of nata, hunting knives, with leather handles, disc shaped guards, and proportionally long blades.

“Lame choice, Rikocchi,” Tatsuya teased, “Those are just like extra big knives. Lacks style.”

“I still don’t know if I believe your weird tale about a ghost world,” she shrugged, “If it’s fake, then I at least didn’t waste money on this giant sword or chain thing that I’ll have a hard time hiding.”

The prospect of later having to find a way to hide a samurai sword in his room had not yet passed by Daisuke’s head, but it was now a burning question in it. He couldn’t really hope that his aunt, whilst being in the know of his past as a gang member, would easily accept his excuse of being an antique collector. Still, that was something he’d have to worry about later, there were more pressing matters at hand.

As expected, but not well liked, once they went to purchase their new weapons they were met with a price of purchase that far outclassed most of the other things a teenager would get to buy with their own money. A steep price that, by her admission, the store owner was already being too generous on. It was hard to know if that was indeed true, but still, Daisuke now knew that he’d be looking into becoming extremely frugal with his money over the next several weeks. Or months.

“That’s bloody highway robbery!” Tatsuya expressed, trying to lower his naturally loud self as soon as they closed the door behind them, “I could book a flight to Tokyo and a hotel by that price.”

“Sakura-san did say that they are precious antiques in great condition,” Riko shrugged. Like the others’, her new weapons were hidden by a cloth wrapping, “I’m not an expert, but… Isn’t that sort of stuff always expensive?”

“I mean, yeah, but…” Tatsuya scratched his head, “Argh, screw it. Let’s get going, we still need to find the dog.”

Riko looked ready to inquire what dog he was talking about, but as the two boys began to walk ahead in a brisk pace, she ended up postponing the question for a later date, getting a move on, following behind them. As Daisuke and Tatsuya had already previously discussed, they decided on making their shift into the other side near where they had exited the last time. They had no way to contact Garm, at least, not currently, yet, he would be able to track their location and meet up with them; at least they hoped he would.

They passed the entrance to the Shrine, and after a few more streets, they finally arrived at the dead end alleyway where they had emerged from the last time. Daisuke took a quick look around, checking if there was nobody in the vicinity before signalling the all clear, so they could remove the wrappings from their weapons. They waited some more, checking again for onlookers in the vicinity, before Daisuke brought his phone out, sliding his finger on the screen to unlock it.

“So… how does it work?” Riko asked. “You just press it and ‘bam’?”

“It’s not really a ‘bam’ more like a ‘feshhesh’,” Tatsuya held his chin between two fingers, “Or a ‘shesha’.”

“Tatsuya,” Daisuke called.

“Yeah, sorry, focus.”

Daisuke instructed that the others stood close to him. If he was right, they wouldn’t need to use more than one phone, as long as they were standing close enough. Still, just to make sure it worked, he made sure to grasp Riko’s arm, instructing the girl to hold onto Tatsuya. With one last look to confirm they were ready, he closed his eyes and held his finger over the app. In a tenth of a second, a bright light emerged from the screen, illuminating their immediate area, and, as it did, their bodies were pulled, grabbed by invisible hands, their world disappearing underneath their feet. The sensation was not new to Daisuke, but even then, he felt instantly nauseous as he felt himself being hurled across space.

He only dared to open his eyes again once he felt solid ground under his feet, and his body come to a complete stop. He saw what he was expecting to see, but even if he had been anticipating it, it was still hard to not be taken aback after transitioning. The intense cold breeze had stopped, as had the distant sound of people walking, the daylight had died down, and instead, the dark, rust covered streets were only covered by the giant moon amidst the dark green toxic storm clouds. Even if Garm’s strange spell, or whatever it was, had made him capable of seeing amidst the red fog, he could still feel how it was around him, how it touched his skin, and made him feel constantly watched, always in danger, his breathing slower and irregular.

“Riko? Hey, Riko!”

He turned around to see Tatsuya holding onto Riko’s shoulders, whilst the girl had both hands in front of her mouth, as she looked around in shock, incapable of believing her eyes. Even if they had warned her, even if she somewhat knew what she would find on the other side, that reaction could not be denied to anyone. She moved her hands between her throat and mouth with an urgent panic.

“I c-can’t breathe,” she uttered weakly barely intelligible through her hands, “This fog. It’s… it’s choking me. It’s poison.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Tatsuya tried to calm her, holding her arm, “It’s heavier and it takes a while to get used to, but you’re gonna be fine.”

“Fine?” she almost squeaked. “I can’t see! I can’t breathe!”

“Let’s find Garm,” Daisuke told them, standing a few feet ahead of them, “He’ll help you.”

He began to walk forward, carefully avoiding the raised cracks on the floor, but still maintaining a confident stride, trying to pass to Riko the impression that he was in control of the situation, even if, truly, he wasn’t. He turned away from the alleyway, seeking to find a more open street, where it would be easier for Garm to find them. The bad part about that plan, would be that they would also be more exposed to an eventual encounter with Shadows. He glanced behind him, checking up on his friends, seeing as they followed him: Riko shook nervously, looking around at everything, whilst still keeping her hands over mouth and nose to try and somehow filter the poisonous air, while Tatsuya stuck close by her side. The blonde looked forward then, trading a worried glance with Daisuke. Then, he pointed forward with eyes open wide:

“Daisuke, watch out!”

Daisuke turned immediately, just barely avoiding a strike aimed at his head as glass shattered around him. He jumped backwards, freeing the blade of his sword from the scabbard he had stuck on his belt.  He then saw what had attacked him: a flying creature that had burst tough a nearby window. It was not much bigger than a human child, yet its body was twisted and gaunt, covered in pitch black, reflective skin that was lit up with symbols, letters and numbers in yellow, white and red. It had bat-like wings, the wingspan far outlasting the body length that ended in a long beak-like structure. A red theatre mask was stuck, or sown, onto the chest of the monster, its expression representing deadly agony.

The monster screeched and charged at Daisuke again, rising to meet his head forcing him to side step again, attempting to use his sword to swing at it, but missing. He heard Tatsuya gasp, pushing himself and Riko down to the ground so they could avoid the fast flying threat that had turned in mid-air and was now hovering in place, looking down at them. It unleashed a high pitched shriek, a blood red tongue twisting like a ribbon as it opened its beak.

“What is that monster!?” Riko’s voice was a shrill screech, “It’s going to kill us!”

The creature dive bombed again, rushing at Daisuke’s head once more. This time, however, he stood his ground, keeping the sword at his side, and moving his left hand forward. Flames in varying shades of blue burst from within himself, as his eyes momentarily flashed with a gold.

_“Siegfried!”_

The ghostly warrior materialized from within him, the long coat and the flames mixed together as it glided through the air to meet the Shadow. A metallic sounding roar echoed across the narrow street as the clawed hand clinched onto the elongated neck of the creature, a burst of smoke and dust sprouting from the debris as Siegfried smashed the monster into the raised wall. The Shadow contorted itself, screeching loudly and violently, wails that could pierce eardrums, until Siegfried’s claws silenced it, crushing it.

As both Persona and Shadow disappeared, their fight concluded, Daisuke looked over his shoulder to the others. They were in the same position as they had been before, crouched over after dodging the attack. Daisuke thought at first that they had been frozen up from the sudden sneak attack by the Shadow, but that was not truth. No, he realised it then, Siegfried was a lot more terrifying than a Shadow, and equally as brutal. They weren’t afraid of the attacking monster, they were afraid of him.

“Are you alright?” he asked, breaking the terrible silence.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” she nodded, straightening herself, using Tatsuya as a crutch, “I just… What did you do? What was that… thing that came out of you?”

“I think I can explain better than they can.”

The familiar voice arrived to them coming from the end of the street, from which, walking through the fog, appeared the small body of Garm. The dog’s eyes glistened in bright yellow, making him easily spottable even in the darkness. He had his tongue out and whipped his tail around, just like a normal dog, but every time words came off his mouth, the illusion of a normal canine easily dissipated.

“Did… Did the dog just talk?” Riko pointed at Garm with a still shaking hand, looking at both of her friends, seeking from them an equally alarmed expression, “That dog is talking!”

“Honestly, you saw the Shadows, the Personas and what not… Is the talking dog that much of a deal breaker?” Tatsuya japed, as colour returned to his face, after the scare, “He’s Garm. He’s the one who helped us out when we were here last time.”

“Thankfully, it seems like I didn’t need to help out this time,” Garm turned his head to Daisuke with pride, “Great job, Death.”

Riko had lifted a hand to her head, as if her brain was about to explode: “D-Death?”

“Ah… Long story,” Daisuke kneeled next to Garm, “Can you fill her in about this place?”

Garm agreed happily, not hiding how happy he was to finally get company once again. Like he had done with Daisuke the last time, Garm conducted the group along the streets, until they found an open house, using it as cover. Much like the rest of the buildings in that version of the town, that house was mostly wrecked, with furniture all tossed and burnt, floor boards cracked, and the walls scratched and filled with holes. It was hard to tell if the stains on the walls were from blood, or if they were the omnipresent rust and ash. Yet, for their purposes, that house served well enough. Once they had settled down, Daisuke asked Garm for him to also grant Riko the ability to see past the fog. The girl looked with distrust at the canine, yet she didn’t protest. A flash, a slight yelp, and then she opened her eyes to see the house around her, this time clearly.

As soon as she was given the all clear to start asking questions, Riko immediately pelted Garm, as well as the others with just about every single thought that had popped in her mind ever since they had shifted into that world. Who Garm was, what he was, what was that place. What was the monster that had attacked them? It was a Shadow, then what was a Shadow? What was Daisuke’s power, following that, what was a Persona, and how could one attain and wield one. Daisuke recalled feeling tired after answering Tatsuya’s questions last time out, but he’d wish it back, as he now noticed just how uncurious he was, or how curious Riko was. He found solace and humour in how Tatsuya was leaning against a ruined chair, looking exhausted as one could be.

“So… If I got this straight,” she said after her seemingly unending barrage, finally concluded. “We’re in an alternate version of the town, where people’s hidden thoughts become real. Those are Shadows. If you beat your own Shadow, you get a Persona.”

“Right,” Daisuke nodded, “There’s normal Shadows that represent the collective unconscious of the town, and there’s specific personal Shadows. Those are stronger and first look like the person, before transforming.”

“And the person who got Yumeno-senpai brought her here, and let her own Shadow… feed on her?” as the others solemnly nodded, Riko clutched her own throat, gulping, “Bloody hell.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Tatsuya announced, “We want to stop him from doing that to anyone else.”

The girl stood quiet, pulling her legs to herself, putting her arms around her knees. It was hard to censor her for having to think carefully about what she had heard, after all, it wasn’t just something that a normal person could process quickly. She was most likely pondering if she should ask them to return to their world, or if she should ask them to go with them.  After a moment of reflection, that seemed to take hours in that warped dimension, Riko finally got up from the floor:

“I want to help.”

“Alright!” Tatsuya cheered, quickly approaching to pat her on the back.

Daisuke was more sombre in his approach: “You’ll need to accept your Shadow before you get your Persona. We don’t when it will arrive, if it even will. It’s going to be very dangerous. Do you still want to go?”

She looked up at the decaying ceiling for a moment, weighing his words: “I know it’s dangerous. Every time I thought that I was ready to tell you guys I wanted to help, I kept thinking back to that Shadow that attacked us, and how there would be way, way worse ones ahead,” she seemed to shake a bit, but when she lowered her eyes to meet his, she looked with unwavering resolve, “That’s why I can’t leave you two here. You need my help too. The more people we have, the better we can fight and the better our chance at catching the killer.”

Even if her body language left clear that her mind still kept reservations, the look she gave him was one that underlined her words. She was afraid, of course, he was too, but her eyes showed to him that she was willing to overcome her fear. He glanced at Garm first, who didn’t signal one way or the other, while Tatsuya, a few steps behind her, seemed anxious for him to clear her. Finally, Daisuke sighed, crossing his arms in a resigned look:

“Fine. But stay behind us.”

Riko nodded with a slight smile: “Will do.”

“Ok then, now on to what I actually wanted to do,” Daisuke proceeded, turning away from the other two, as he kneeled to get closer to Garm, “Can you find the place where Yumeno-senpai died?”

“The place where she died?” Garm repeated, blinking a few times.

“Yeah. I figured that, even if there were no real clues left behind on our side, at least there might be something on this one. You said that her Shadow killed her, right?” Garm nodded, and Daisuke continued: “What happens to a Shadow after it kills its original self?”

To his surprise, Garm’s answer was not instantaneous. He had grown so accustomed to the dog’s apparently limitless well of knowledge about that world, that he was shocked to see him stumble to come up with an answer.

“What happens to the Shadows we kill?” Daisuke asked, “Or to the regular Shadows that die here?”

“Regular Shadows end up reforming later on. You can’t really kill a normal Shadow, because soon enough, it will return,” Garm answered, but the way he spoke was if he was distracted, still mulling on the previous, unanswered question, “A regular Shadow, of course. If a realized Shadow, that is to say, a Shadow that looks like a person, were to die, I believe it would also reform eventually, perhaps more savagely.”

“But you aren’t sure?” Tatsuya asked. As he got no answer, he let out a groan. “Great…”

“But in this case, the Shadow wasn’t killed. The person who ‘casted it’ was,” Riko observed, apparently already comfortable enough with the terminology to catch Daisuke’s inquiry, “But… If the person isn’t alive, if their thoughts aren’t there anymore… Then the Shadow shouldn’t exist too, right?”

That had been Daisuke’s thought process as well, however at that point, he figured that just because logic would dictate something within the real world it didn’t mean that the same thing would follow there. If there was no light source, a shadow could not be cast, yes, but there was also the possibility, that a Shadow who fed on its original self could grow and mutate into something even stronger.

“I don’t know,” Garm shook his head, looking down. “I wish I could tell you, but I honestly don’t know. This is something that never happened before. I, can’t really explain why I know certain stuff, and I don’t know others. I really have no idea,” he lowered his ears, “I’m sorry.”

The more he wondered about that world, the more new questions appeared in Daisuke’s mind, such as how Garm had exactly appeared if he was the only, or one of the only, non-Shadow entities on that side, or for how long exactly that place had existed. Seeing as how it seemed to be permanently stuck in a foggy night, he wasn’t sure Garm could even tell him for how long he had been there either. Well, whatever it was, they had to get moving, the fog would continue to sap their energy even if they were stopped, and it was better to get moving before Shadows ambushed them:

“Garm, can you track down the place then?”

The dog gave him an affirmative nod and perked back up onto his feet. He wiggled his tail a few times, before closing his golden eyes, his snout twisting in an expression that displayed his concentration on his task. After only a few moments, he sniffed at the air and with a look at the others, pounced from his spot and towards the entryway. Immediately, the three students followed behind him, past the ruined, half eaten door and back out onto the streets. Even if the fog was ever present, indifferent to whether they were inside or outside, Daisuke immediately felt an influx of noxious, constricting air and a rising pressure on his chest.

They only got to follow Garm along for a short distance, however, as soon enough, the dog hastily stopped. As his eyes were focused on his guide, Daisuke had also failed to see the obstacle in front; and yet, as his eyes rose to stare forward, he felt a chill and his heartbeat hasten: In front of the group was a woman standing as still as a statue. The moonlight’s glow made her skin shine, as if unaffected by the fog and the darkness. Long fiery hair cascaded in soft waves on bare shoulders. She wore a form fitting, and yet also frilly dress, brimming with details, ribbons and crimson feathers. Dark eyeshadow had been meticulously applied over the long-lashed cold golden eyes. She was beautiful, and terrifying. The changes were so drastic, so profound, that even with the knowledge of who it was, the resemblance was hard to see.

“So, you finally decided to meet me,” the Shadow’s voice, despite the unnatural echo, was loud and clear. Even if the appearance was very different, the voice was Riko’s, “Honestly, I thought you’d never show up. Really, I kind of wish you didn’t. Seeing you makes me _sick_.”

“Don’t listen to her!” Tatsuya pleaded, “She’s going to try to provoke you.”

“Oh, don’t say stuff like that, Tatsu-kun,” the Shadow raised her hand in front of her mouth, “I’m not provoking. Not like that anyway. No… I just figured that maybe it was time to be honest with my other self. With my fake self. The Riko Kida that tries to delude herself into thinking she’s not an ugly, useless slob.”

“I’m not!” Riko shook violently, freeing herself of Tatsuya’s hand on her shoulder. She was clutching the handles of her knives, but seemed to be incapable of moving them.

The Shadow giggled to herself, a nasty, twisted and chilling sound: “Don’t just shake a man off like that, darling. The way you are, the way we are, that’s about as much care as you’re going to get. Imagine, just imagine! You love to tell yourself that you’re just lazy, that if you really wanted to be more like a girl, you’d actually try, right? But you know that’s wrong. That’s a fantasy. You know deep down, don’t you, Rikocchi?”

Daisuke gritted his teeth. Tatsuya attempted to break through to Riko, but it was obvious that any and all attempts would fail. When confronted with your own deepest secrets, you couldn’t just accept them easily. She had been warned, and yet, in retrospect, no amount of warning or care could ever work. A person couldn’t just tune off to that. As Daisuke raised his sword, his mind raced at the idea of trying to attack the Shadow now. Kill it before it could do them harm. But… Could he? Should he? Garm didn’t know what could happen. Could killing the Shadow without Riko accepting her hurt her? Kill her?

“Riko, please!” Tatsuya pleaded with the girl, who stood motionless, looking not at the Shadow, but at the floor, eyes wide and a livid expression, “Say something! That thing is just trying to confuse you!”

“Confuse her? Just the opposite. It’s Riko, it’s me, who has to accept that this beautiful princess she is seeing in front of her is fantasy and a dream. That the real Riko is a filthy, disgusting monster. Too dumb and too ugly to live. Honestly, maybe she should just never have existed in the first place.”

“SHUT UP!”

The scream echoed loudly, bouncing of the confined walls and across the foggy landscape. All stood still, human, dog and Shadow. Riko’s eyes glistened with fresh tears as she looked up, facing the mirage of her hidden demons, the representation of her self-doubt and self-deprecation. And she screamed: “THAT IS NOT ME! YOU’RE NOT ME!”

And it happened. The pillars of dancing blue flames formed around the princess, a burning inferno that covered the streets. Daisuke shielded his face from the flames, yet he felt his feet drag along the ground, as the force of the transformation pushed him and his friends backwards and against the cracked, ash stricken walls of the house that moments before had served them as a safe haven.

“ _I am a Shadow. The true self.”_

A large form burst through the middle of the flaming pillars, the darkness slowly reconfiguring into a reptilian head, glowing orange spikes and stripes covering the black scales along the neck.  Two sets of leathery wings with orange membranes batted away the remaining blue flames in a gust of wind. The fire dispersed, the giant moon’s light cast upon the streets, the giant draconic body of the Shadow appeared: a giant wyvern, on whose chest, not plate or scales resided, but a deformed, stretched humanoid face, with cracked veiny lips and three golden glowing eyes with slit pupils twisted and rotated, looking at nothing and everything at the same time. It was a hint of poetic, deadly irony that behind the princess lay a monstrous dragon.

“Get back!”

Daisuke shouted, springing into action as he jumped in front of his friends, the fires of summoning bursting from him and producing Siegfried. The Shadow snapped its neck back and using its two sets of wings pulled into the air, from which it sent forth a bursting stream of bright red flames. Siegfried’s conjured shield of glass contained the bustling inferno, and yet, on the other side of the protection, the intense, scorching heat could still be felt. A single stray spark from that fire could easily burn their skins off and dust their bones.

“Tatsuya!” Daisuke shouted behind him, desperate for assistance. “Do something!”

Tatsuya looked around him in a rush, panicking as he saw Riko fallen sitting on the ground in shock, and Garm looking with terror at the Shadow. Finally, he strode forward and his eyes sparked with golden as the blue flames surrounded him:

“King Arthur!”

The Persona appeared on his command, the royal mantle flapping violently with the force of the wind from the beating wings of the draconic monster. Arthur opened its arms to the side, producing orbs of purple energy that grew in size at an alarming rate when the King joined them together into one and thrust it over the glass wall and at the monster. The sphere burst into an explosion as it reached the Shadow, pushing its head backwards, stopping the flaming barrage. The Shadow roared in retaliation, Riko’s voice could still be heard amidst the distorted cries of the monster.

“Yes!” Tatsuya celebrated raising his fist.

“It’s going to attack again!” Garm warned, undercutting the celebration.

Trying to keep the momentum Tatsuya’s push off had given them, Daisuke moved to follow up. Siegfried charged at the glass wall itself had created, cracking it into hundreds of small, sharp shards that all flew upwards towards the Shadow, stabbing at the wings and chest-face of the creature, prolonging its agonizing cries. The Shadow plummeted to the ground below it, crashing loudly, as tail, wings and neck brought down the walls that confined the alleyway, opening the battlefield to the houses to the side, whose outer walls had been wrecked by the falling colossus.

Daisuke didn’t hesitate and moved closer to strike at the advantage. Siegfried flew away from him, concentrating the scattered glass shards into a longsword, clutching its handle with two hands and driving it down towards the Shadow in a plunging attack. It did not connect on its attack, however, as from amidst the dust cloud, cracking like a whip, the drake’s tail came for it, striking at its torso, shattering the sword in the process and pushing him back, flying backwards and hitting the side of the house that just before had served as a hiding spot, scattering rubble all around. Even if it had not been him that had been hit, Daisuke felt a sudden burst of pain that made him clutch his torso with both arms, leaning forward in pain.

“Daisuke!” Tatsuya approached him, holding onto his shoulder.

“The damage done to the Persona is felt by the user!” Garm shouted. “It’s more resistant than you are, but you’ll still get hurt if it gets hit.”

 _Oh now you tell me that!_ Daisuke took a step forward, steadying himself, assuming a battle stance once more. It had been a painful strike, but his adrenaline made him able to shake it off, at least for the time being. Amidst the rubble and ash, the draconic Shadow had risen once more onto its hind legs, letting out a distorted roar. The wings of the creature had been severely damaged by the glass shards, with several holes visible on the membranes of the creature, black smoke escaping from the wounds like vaporous blood.

“Stop getting back up, you bitch!” Tatsuya cursed at it, shouting, “Just fucking die already!”

“Is that what you really think of me, Tatsu-chan?” The voice had caught them unprepared. It had been the stretched, now cut riddled human-like face of the Shadow that had talked. And it hadn’t talked in the devilish distorted tones of its dragon head, but on what sounded just like Riko’s real voice. “I really was right. You don’t like me. I’m an ugly, dumb girl who nobody likes. Maybe it really is for the best that I should just die.”

“No, that’s not true!” the blonde shook his head, raising a hand to his head, “I didn’t mean that the _real_ Riko is like that. St-Stop confusing me! Stop talking with her voice!”

That was bad. The Shadow was distracting them, Daisuke was certain of that, and yet, it was hard to move and attack it now. It could somehow hurt Riko. And he couldn’t allow for that to happen.

“Watch out!”

The scream of warning and not arrived from Garm this time, but from the real Riko. She pointed forward from her kneeling position, face red and covered in tears. Daisuke saw it in time: the draconic head had moved back and from its mouth smoke emerged and with it, a bolt of fire and that became larger as it approached them.

“Persona!” Daisuke moved his sword in a vertical swing and Siegfried, emerging from his soul once more, mimicked his movement, striking the fireball with the sword, exploding it mid-flight, covering the ruinous street with black smoke that spread upwards towards the dark poisonous clouds overhead. He had stopped the attack, but it had been a ruse. As Tatsuya’s King Arthur cleared the smoke with his powers, they could see on the other side, the beam of energy forming on the human mouth of the Shadow.

“DIE!”

With a final spark, the beam of flames shot towards them, crimson, brighter flames, aimed at the group, submerging the streets in a wicked inferno on which nothing that came into contact with it could ever survive. The flames arched upwards as they reached the group, however, as Siegfried’s wall of glass had been curved in order to try and dissipate the attack, and yet, it didn’t. Daisuke felt his legs weaken and he fell forward on one knee, as the sweat that formed in his brow evaporated immediately. He could see how in front of him Siegfried’s cloak were burnt and trashed, the armour, dented from the tail strike, was becoming brighter, as the metal would be reaching melting point.

 _Is this the end?_ He looked behind him, searching for his friends amidst the inferno that he could only slow, but not stop. Tatsuya had fallen on his backside, his Persona was just above him, and concentrating its power in assisting Siegfried in making the flames arch away from them. Garm was immobile, laid out on the ground. Riko was still on the same position as before, kneeling down and with her arms limped to the side of her.

“This is my fault,” she mumbled, somehow audible despite the flames raging around her, “I killed us all.”

“It’s not your fault!” Daisuke managed to still hurl at her. He felt his throat hurt with every word, his eyes getting filled with tears from the heat, “Don’t you ever think it was your fault!”

“But… If I wasn’t so weak, then I…”

“Stop talking!” Tatsuya had turned himself around on the floor to crawl towards her, shaking her limp arms with his hands, “We’re not going to die! I won’t let it happen!”

“But—”

“You’re Shadow is a liar! None of what she said is true!” Tatsuya shook her again, “Do you hear me, Riko! We are your friends and we like you, I like you! We want you to help us, and we want to help you! We’re not dyeing here!”

Riko looked at him with wide eyes, her mouth half open. She looked as if she wanted to speak, but couldn’t. It seemed that Tatsuya’s honesty and the despair had somehow managed to break through to her. And yet, his promise was hard to be kept. The barrage of flames wasn’t going to stop, and they would be dead. _No._ Daisuke thought, forcing himself to stand again, _That won’t happen._

“Tatsuya!” he called out, making both of his friends turn towards him, “Use your powers to push my wall forward!”

“Push the wall!?” Tatsuya let go off Riko, stumbling to walk closer to him.

“It will make a mobile shield that we can use to push against the Shadow and stop its attack!”

Tatsuya’s eyebrows displayed uncertainty in the plan. He’d have to pull his already fatigued Persona into pushing Siegfried’s wall forward, there was not telling if that would work or if they’d die out of exhaustion and the more intense heat closer to the flames’ source. And yet, it was either die trying, or die there, cowering.

“Do you trust me?” Daisuke asked him.

Tatsuya took only a second to nod, and he then opened his mouth again to call on Arthur. As Garm and Riko stayed behind, Daisuke and Tatsuya charged forward, both knight and king working in tandem, Siegfried held the wall for longer, continually replacing the glace that the flames destroyed, while King Arthur, beside it, charged energy in its hands for a powerful focused gravitational push.

“Go!”

With a shout in unison, both released their power. Siegfried pulled back from the wall as Arthur released its blast, purple light being cast all around the streets, as the curved wall of glass was shot forward, pushing the beam of crimson flames along with it, advancing at tremendous velocity. The power of the throw and the thickness of the wall had made it so it couldn’t be melted or broken truth. With a loud sound, the glass crashed against the Shadow, shards scattering everywhere, some flying upwards, others  moving along the streets, others still stabbing into the flesh of the monster, whose flame spewing had been interrupted, as both its heads cried in pain. A loud “Noooo!” echoed along the ruined town, as the monster, covered in its own flames roared in anger and hurt.

Its cries were suddenly silenced. Standing over it, Siegfried had driven a sword through the third eye on the chest of the beast. Arthur’s gravitational energy had propelled both Daisuke and his Persona towards their target, producing the deadly strike before any reaction could occur.

“I’m sorry.” The boy whispered.

Siegfried pulled the sword from the creature. The draconic body was at once overtaken by torrents of black smoke, but also by the blue flames of the transformation, the soul fire. The Shadow became smaller, and smaller, shifting in place, revolting in its form until, once more, it assumed its original form, of a doppelgänger of the real Riko. The hair extensions had been burnt off, and the dress was in ruins, scratched, stained and burned. Soot and ash covered the before soft skin of the girl. Tears tracks ran along its cheeks as the Shadow fell backwards, sitting itself on the floor.

Daisuke felt the pain and tiredness take him once more, and he got to feel his last remnants of energy leave him as he fell backwards, meeting the somehow still standing wall to his side, to stop himself from collapsing on the ground. He had already closed his eyes when he heard both Tatsuya and Garm cheer as they rushed to him.

“It worked!” Tatsuya celebrated, pulling him from the wall to pat him on the back, “You were right, you tall bastard!”

“Impressive work, you two,” Garm praised, nodding, “I am amazed at how quickly you managed to control your Personas and combine your skills.”

“What did you expect?” Tatsuya smirked, beating on his chest with a free hand in a celebratory manner. Yet his smirk vanished, once he looked over his shoulder.

Shadow Riko remained where she was, sat on the ground, in her burnt dress, but the real Riko had moved, walking closer to her Shadow. Even if she hadn’t been hit by an attack, Riko’s hair was messy and she too had been covered in ash and dust in the fight. She stopped in front of the Shadow with her arms unnaturally by her side, just looking down at what looked like a mirror image of herself. None of the others dared to talk.

The moment of silence was finally broken after Riko let out a sigh, looking up at the sky first, then quickly at her friends expectantly waiting for her, and then she finally looked down at her Shadow. They traded a long stare, during which, the others waiting in the wing were afraid that the Shadow would get back up and attack again. Yet, it was Riko who moved first, extending her right hand forward towards the Shadow, prompting her to grab it. The Shadows golden eyes studied her carefully, before finally letting Riko hold its hand and pull it to its feet.

“I…” Riko used her other hand to scratch her head, looking down at her feet, “I… I was wrong. I’m wrong all the time, after all, so it’s not that big of a shock but… Ugh… This is so hard to do.”

“Just be honest with yourself,” Garm encouraged her, getting closer to her.

“Yeah, but… I’ve never been good at that,” Riko allowed herself a sad smile. She looked at her Shadow again, “As much as I hate it… What you said, it’s all truth. I keep trying to push those thoughts to the side, and to just chalk them up as me being paranoid, but I do feel that. I wish I was smarter, I wish I was prettier, I wish I could be more than just this boring uninteresting person that will never do anything, and nobody will remember…”

“That’s not impossible,” Daisuke told her. He had been telling himself to not speak and let Riko solve it by herself, but her words had rekindled old thoughts in his head, “You can’t let your doubts control you.”

“Yeah, he’s right,” Tatsuya nodded by his side, taking a step towards her, “Don’t be silly with that stuff. That sort of thing is all on your head. I mean, I didn’t really know anybody when I came here, right? And you were the first person to be my friend. Hell, the same’s true for Daisuke. You’re a great friend, you know that? And that’s worth a lot.”

Daisuke nodded at his sentence. Riko stood still, quietly listening to them talk. She closed her eyes for a moment, placing her free hand on her chest. When she opened her eyes again, she smiled at them.

“Thank you. Both of you,” she sniffled, pulling back tears that were threatening to come out. Finally, she turned to her Shadow for a final time, now holding both of its hands. “You’re right. You are me. But I won’t let that be me for much longer. I’ll work hard to become a person I can be proud of being. To never look back and feel ashamed of what I chose and who I am. Thanks.”

Riko opened her mouth in surprise as the Shadow suddenly was flooded by a bright blue light and consumed by azure flames. She took a step back, fearing that she had somehow triggered a perilous transformation once again, but she soon realized that was not a case. The flames were not ones of rejection, but of acceptance. The Shadow was transforming, but into something else.

The figure had floated a few meters up into the air and had grown only ever so slightly. In time, the blue flames gave way to new blazes, only these ones were of a much more common bright orange. The figure amidst the flames were of a young woman dressed in black and gold, with elaborate jewellery on her person. One arm was covered by the loose black fabric, whilst the other was bare, something that was mirrored for the legs. The lower half of the spirit’s face was covered by a black veil, the eyes, lacking a pupil, were the same bright orange as the long, wild hair that seemed to dance with the whims of the flames that covered the body.

“That’s my…” Riko mumbled, looking at the figure in awe. “My Persona…”

_“I am thou. Thou art I. I am Sati. I shall be the sword with which you shall cut through falsehood and reveal truth."_

With a sudden flash of light, the Persona gave way to small particles of light that all flew directly into Riko’s chest, lodging themselves within her. The girl stood in stunned silence, with her hands on her chest. Before she could do anything else however, she found herself caught by both of her friends in a group hug, complete with pats on the back and ruffling of her hair. Garm joined in, jumping on Daisuke’s shoulders so suddenly they almost all fell down, pushed by the sudden weight.

“Hey! Hey! Cut that out!” she told them, even if she couldn’t contain her laughter and ended up giving in and repaying the hug. Once the others let go, to look at her, she gifted them with a large smile: “I did it!”

“You did!” Tatsuya laughed. He then put on a playful expression: “But don’t get too cocky now, ok? I said you were cool and smart, but you’re not as cool and smart as me, ok?”

“I wouldn’t dare to think that,” Riko grinned, “It’s a bad thing I can’t tell people about this. I’d love for people to know how cute and sensitive Tatsu-chan is.”

As both Daisuke and Garm laughed, joining Riko in her teasing, Tatsuya gave them a theatrical mean look: “I take what I said back. You’re mean.”

“Mocking Emperor aside,” Garm told them, still using Daisuke’s shoulder as a vantage point, “Even with Strength on the team, I guess it’s probably better to leave the exploration for another day.”

“Oh shit, I completely forgot about that,” Tatsuya admitted, passing a hand through his dyed hair. He looked at Daisuke: “We’re not going to, right? I can barely move.”

“Yeah, I’m beat,” the taller boy admitted, “We should head back and rest before Shadows come and get us. We can come back after we’ve rested for a while. If the killer is up to something, the Dead Phone Watch should let us know.”

With the others agreeing to his proposition, they turned to travel again to a place where they could safely shift back to their dimension, leaving behind the ruins of their arduous battle. They had to refrain from chatting on their way back, in order to not potentially attract the unwanted attention of a stray Shadow, but it was clear that the mood had changed. Riko’s awakening had been extremely tough, not only for her psychologically, but the actual battle had been the closest they’ve been to certain death in their entire lives. And yet, they had managed to surpass that trial. Maybe, just maybe, they could really pull it off.


	9. Anomalies

The cold had not gone away on the early hours of Monday. As Daisuke left his temporary home, the chilly air of the morning hit him like a charging Shadow. With his nose running, and the frigid April air slowly freezing him in place, he was once again reminded of how poor for his health it was to jump from being in the middle of an intense firestorm fighting a dragon, to back in a cold mountain town. As if that wasn’t enough, just like how his encounter with Tatsuya’s Shadow had left marks on him, Shadow Riko too had left his body hurting, particularly a nasty bruise across his chest from where the Shadow’s tail had struck Siegfried: Like how Garm had said, it seemed that damage done to the Persona would translate to the user. Still, taking into account how strong the impact to Siegfried had been, Daisuke was thankful it wasn’t a direct transference with the Persona itself absorbing some of the damage before it reached the user. His ribcage would’ve most likely been crushed by the blow if it wasn’t. Still, there was no doubt that he would have to become way more careful than he had been before.

“Achoo!”

He felt his whole body ache immediately following the powerful sneeze. He wondered if he would survive more trips to the Shadow World, as it seemed that he got progressively more beat up each time. He had his eyes closed for a moment, muttering to himself, when he heard steps getting closer to his left. As he opened his eyes again, he found someone to his right, extending a hand with a paper tissue:

“Here.”

Daisuke took a side glance at the stranger first, but then turned to face him, nodding and taking the tissue. The stranger looked to be about the same age as he was, also wearing the Kurosawa Academy uniform, albeit, much more professionally than Daisuke, with the jacket closed and the black tie firmly in place. He was only a few centimetres shorter than Daisuke, with well combed, very light brown hair that fell just past his shoulders. The boy’s narrow, intelligent light brown eyes observed him intently, his mouth displayed a pleasant smile. Just from a quick glance at him, Daisuke pinned him to be quite popular in the school, given his looks and demeanour.

“Thanks,” Daisuke told him, using the tissue to clean his nose for a moment. He noticed that the boy remained by his side as he did. As Daisuke crumpled the tissue, he looked back at the light haired boy: “You’re from Kurosawa too?”

The boy, pocketing the package of tissues, nodded towards him: “I am indeed. My name is Shirou Makimura. I’m a student from class 2-B.”

“Daisuke Ichijou. 2-A.”

“Ah… Yes, you’re the transfer student from Sonomura, I figured that much,” Makimura smiled. His tone of voice was soft and pleasing, but there was something about the way he talked that Daisuke found threatening. Like a looming beast waiting just below the water, “I figured that I would find you eventually. You do have a very striking look about you.”

 _What does that mean?_ Daisuke raised an inquisitive eyebrow. He was aware that he did tend to stick out from groups, in part due to what had been described as "thuggish looks" by fellow Kaijo student, but mainly due to his height. However, the way that Makimura had phrased it had certainly left him with more than one question about his true meaning. Before he could noticed, the other boy was already on the move, leaving him in place as he walked briskly up the hill. Taking a step towards him, Daisuke called out:

“Stop. What game are you playing here?”

Makimura stopped, looking over his shoulder. Daisuke was sure to have seen what seemed to be a glimpse of a smile for a second.

“What 'game'? You must excuse me, I have no idea what you might be talking about."

“Oh, I think you do. You said that you thought you would 'find me eventually'. What's that about?” Daisuke moved his right hand towards him, pointing an accusatory finger, “Somehow, the idea that this was a chance encounter seems really unlikely.”

Makimura looked away from him again, staring forward, up at the school at the top of the hill. He began to chuckle softly, seemingly amused by the questioning he was under. Daisuke did not find the humour in the situation, instead furrowing his brow, and awaiting an answer. Adjusting his school bag to his shoulder, Makimura turned to face him once more, apparently still in a very jolly mood:

“Please excuse me, Ichijou-kun,” Makimura smiled once more. His smile was probably one of the hardest facial expressions to understand Daisuke had ever seen. Much like the tone of his voice, it seemed to mix both genuine pleasantness, as well as a hint of danger, “I think I did leave my introduction unfinished. Aside from just being a student, I am also the captain of the school's Kendo team. But, perhaps more currently relevant: I am a member of the Student Council."

“If you wanted to introduce me to the council, I’m sorry, but Toriumi-senpai already did that a few days back,” Daisuke kept his expression neutral, about as hard to decipher as he could. He didn’t know what Makimura wanted. If he wasn't going to open up his game, Daisuke too wouldn't make it easy for him: “You’re late for that. My apologies.”

“Oh, a bother really…” his Cheshire smile changed to a more playful grin, “I did not intend to step on Toriumi-senpai's position, however. You see, my role within the council is to oversee its disciplinary committee. It is my duty to ascertain if things are in order, to keep the students in check. I'm meant to preserve the peace, if you will."

"Ah, good. You're a cop. A student cop."

“Funny,” Makimura’s tone and expression remained unchanged, “But yes, I suppose that's one way to look at it.”

“Glad to know that. Did I break a rule, officer?"

“I don’t know yet, have you?” Makimura’s smile faded away completely for the first time since they had begun their conversation, “Here’s the thing, Ichijou-kun: as you may be aware, a fellow student, Mayoi Yumeno-san, died just last week. The death of a student, by any means, affects me personally, as I was meant to keep her, and everyone else safe. So as you might imagine, I am very much interested in pursuing the leads that the police may not consider. After all, professionals as they are, they lack my knowledge of the school. And of its students."

Daisuke’s frown becoming more pronounced, his expression growing grimmer. He did not like where that conversation was going. He recognized the tone, he recognized the way that Makimura had been steering the conversation. He meant that Yumeno had been murdered. He meant that Yumeno had been killed by a student. Naturally, his point was easy to arrive at:

“You think I killed Yumeno-senpai?”

“I didn’t say anything of the sort, if anything, you’re putting words in my mouth,” Makimura showed a brief glimpse of a smile, but as Daisuke prepared to speak again, he waved his hand dismissively, “Listen to me, first. Am I saying Yumeno-senpai was killed by you? No, that is not what I said. As far as I am aware, the possibility of suicide hasn't even been ruled out yet. What I am saying is that, if it was murder and if it was a student, well, you do look like an interesting suspect, don't you? After all, the heir of a well known business family is sent away from his home to a small town in the mountains for apparently no reason is quite an interesting occurrence. Even more when just shortly after they arrive, a girl is kidnapped and killed." Makimura took a second more to seemingly take a look at him, from his head to his feet, "Now... I don't have evidence. As far as I know, this is a theory purely based on conjecture and I am way off base. However..."

"You still think I am a suspicious person," Daisuke's voice was low, but it carried weight behind it.

“Yes,” Makimura nodded. His eyes had turned cold and the smile had gone away again, “Hence why I thought it was important for me to get to speak to you. I figured it would be important to understand you, at least, on a surface level. Now, I did not get answers, not conclusively at least, but I am left intrigued. You are interesting."

"Thanks."

"Happy you took it as a compliment," Makimura chuckled, "In any case. I'll be sure to look into you in the future. If you truly are innocent, make an effort to act that way, would you?"

As Daisuke did not answer him, Makimura smiled again. He turned back around, and resumed to walk up the street towards the school. Daisuke remained where he was, simply watching him as he went away. He cursed out his luck under his breath. Of course, it would be naïve of him to assume that he wouldn’t be a suspect at some point, after all, like Makimura said, the crimes had begun just as he had arrived. And that was before his past transgressions were public knowledge… If it ever came out that he was a criminal, than soon enough it wouldn’t just be a an honour student playing detective that would question him, but it would be the actual police.

“Yo, Daisuke!”

Tatsuya’s voice removed him harshly from his thoughts. As Daisuke looked back down to the base of the street, he could see the grinning blond walk up towards him, waving his hand. Riko was walking just behind him, beaming a smile towards him. Their sudden, yet timely arrival, had at least made some progresses in soothing his mood:

“How’re you guys feeling?”

“Dead tired…” Riko admitted. The shadows under her eyes were sufficient confirmation to her words, “I was super beat after we came back, but I also couldn’t really sleep… I just kept thinking back about my Shadow... I can’t believe we managed to survive that," she scratched her head, "Thanks."

“Don’t mention it,” Daisuke gave her a rare smile. He then noticed that Tatsuya seemed to be absently staring ahead towards the school, “Something’s wrong?”

“No, not really… I mean, yeah, kinda,” Tatsuya shook his head, looking towards him, “That guy that was speaking to you before we got here, was that Shirou Makimura?”

“Oh, yeah it was,” Daisuke lamented in his head not being able to put that conversation behind him for a moment longer, “Why? You know him?”

“You serious? Everybody does,” Tatsuya scoffed, crossing his arms to show his disapproval for the other student, “He’s some sort of celebrity at school. Got a fan club and everything."

“Any particular reason for that?” Daisuke questioned. He wasn’t the type for that sort of talk and pettiness, but Makimura did spark some curiosity in him.

“Makimura-kun has really high grades, but people know him mostly because of how last year he took our school to the national kendo championships,” Riko explained. Daisuke was surprised to find genuine admiration, even awe in the girl's voice: “Kurosawa is a small school from a small town, so we never got to go to a National tournament. So that was a very, very big deal. Unfortunately, Makimura-kun rolled his ankle on the last eight so he couldn't compete anymore. The rest of the team wasn't good enough to carry us the rest of the way. It was really unlucky."

“Unlucky, yeah, or "The Prince" was just afraid to lose and faked an injury,” Tatsuya proposed with vitriol.

“Oh, stop being a jealous baby,” Riko slapped his arm with a lot more force than a regular tap. She did not pay ear to Tatsuya's lamentations over his aching shoulder, instead turning to Daisuke again: “Anyway, that’s not all. Maybe you've heard of the name Asuka Makimura before? She's Makimura-kun's sister and is a big time detective on Sonomura. You probably heard about her last year: She was the lead investigator on the Uesugi Killings.”

That name definetely rang a bell. Even if Daisuke’s memories of the last year had been horribly scrambled, intercut by fighting and internal struggle, he did recall talk of that. A series of murders had occurred all in the Uesugi district of Sonomura City, his hometown. He recalled that the investigation had taken months, before a killer had been caught and confessed. Riko’s account made him remember how he had been smitten by how young the lead investigator was: a woman in her mid-twenties at the oldest. In retrospect, the fuzzy mental image he still had of her, did somewhat look like Makimura.

“So I’m guessing he isn't just playing detective then...” Daisuke thought out loud, scratching his chin in thought.

“What do you mean?” Riko asked.

“He thinks I’m a suspect on Yumeno-senpai’s death.”

The bluntness of Daisuke’s answer had caught the other two by surprise. Their expressions could’ve been quite comical, were it not for how serious the situation could turn out to be. Tatsuya soon enough eloquently articulated his thoughts:

“Excuse me: what the fuck…?”

Seeing that he’d have to essentially relay the full extent of his conversation with Makimura to his friends, he started to do so, as they resumed their walk towards the school grounds. He got to see on his friends’ faces their expressions alternate between worry and confusion over what he had told them. As Daisuke quickened his pace and entered the school’s main building, he didn’t let the others a chance to further comment on the new wrench that had been thrown on them. Whatever obstacle Makimura could potentially present that would be in the future. For now, they had only to keep an eye on the Dead Phone Watch and focus on discovering what was going on the other side.

As Daisuke passed by the classroom door, he was instantly met with the always pleasant Sakakibara scowl, a disdainful look that didn’t leave him until he set his bag down and sat at his usual desk by the window. He could feel in the air how much the teacher was cranky that day, and knew he would be looking at an excuse to shout and yell at him, as such, he made sure to be as well behaved as possible. Not having an excuse to berate him, would probably make Sakakibara even more annoyed, which was an added bonus in Daisuke’s mind. Only a few moments passed before the bell rang, signalling the start of homeroom, and the renewal of another cycle of Sakakibara’s reign of terror.

“Good morning,” the teacher’s gaze swept the classroom, not unlike a military searchlight, intent on catching slackers, “To those who showed up at least.”

Even if not very pronounced, there was a surge of students taking a moment to look around themselves, trying to find whomever was supposed to be missing. It wasn’t hard for Daisuke to know who it was, after all, it was precisely the desk directly in front of him: Kunizuka-san. He noticed Riko become especially fidgety when she noticed. Daisuke didn’t understand at first why, but then it hit him: _Has she been taken?_

He noticed that once Sakakibara looked away to begin his homeroom lecture, Riko took her phone from her pocket, beginning to text something from under the table, no doubt trying to get in contact with the missing girl. For the rest of homeroom, and maths class following it, Riko seemed completely absent minded, holding her phone under the table, waiting for a reply back. Tatsuya would occasionally look back at both her and Daisuke, trying to find out if any of them knew anything. Yet, the seat remained empty and no reply back came. As later on, English classed ended and Saotome-sensei left the room, giving the students their lunchtime, Riko and Tatsuya both immediately turned on their chairs in order to find Daisuke.

“I don’t like this,” A nervous Riko told him. She clutched the phone on her right hand, “Izumi isn’t the type to miss class.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, though,” Daisuke asked of the two. Despite his words, he too imagined the worst, “It’s possible Kunizuka-san is sick and that’s why she didn’t come to school. Or she overslept.”

“Izumi never missed a day, Daisuke-kun,” Riko insisted, “She’s never overslept and she’s stubborn enough to come even when she’s sick. No, I’m sure something happened to her.”

“Like, I don’t know her as well as you do,” Tatsuya began, doing his customary head scratch, “But if she really had been taken, she would’ve been on the Watch yesterday, right? And there wasn’t one.”

“But what if they took her today?” the girl persisted. Daisuke didn’t gather from their previous interactions how deep the bond between Riko and Kunizuka was. It seemed to go a lot deeper than he initially thought, “Then that would explain why there wasn’t a Watch.”

“They’d have to take her in broad daylight, Riko. I don't think they'd do that,” Daisuke counterpointed, raising a finger, “Even if they would, then there would be a warning transmission on the Watch yesterday, and there wasn’t anything. Just static.”

“Yeah, but...” Riko looked down at her joined knees, “Do you guys mind if we go today? Maybe Garm-chan can tell if something happened.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you went to her house first?” he proposed.

“Oh... Yeah, I g-guess,” she nervously passed a hand through her hair, “Yeah, that makes more sense...”

“Hey, guys?” Tatsuya’s call made both of them face him. The blond had his back to them, looking at the door, “Forget about that.”

They quickly got an answer to what he meant, as the door to the classroom had slid open and standing over it was not the teacher for the next class, but Kunizuka. She took a moment by the door to look at her classmates, some of them equally looking at her. She then walked between the desks, not avoiding some curious eyes being thrown at her. As she and Daisuke traded a look before she sat down at her seat in from of him, he could notice the weariness in her eyes. She looked even more tired than him and the others did. Riko had moved slightly in her chair, leaning on the desk to try and call her, but before she had time to, Sakakibara appeared at the door, the bell ringing to announce either the teacher’s arrival or the end times.

“Settle down, you lot,” the cranky voice boomed as the teacher walked atop the wooden floorboards and towards his desk. He shot a glance at the classroom that he had abandoned only a few hours ago, and noticed the difference immediately, like a hawk on the hunt, “Kunizuka-san, glad you decided to join us.”

“I apologize for my tardiness, Mr. Sakakibara,” Kunizuka bowed her head apologetically. Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Apologies are meant to be avoided,” Sakakibara puffed annoyed, “If I were you, Kunizuka-san, I’d make sure I pay attention to class now.”

Kunizuka nodded and silently complied. Soon enough, it was if nothing odd had happened and class was running again, yet the group at the corner of the classroom was still in disarray. Even if Daisuke could tell Riko and Tatsuya were ready to ask Kunizuka over why exactly she was late, they seemed to understand that it would probably be bad idea to talk to her in class, after Sakaibara’s gaze was firmly planted on her. Normally, Daisuke would not really be interested or think much of someone being late, but given the current climate, with the death of Yumeno and the revelation of the Otherworld, he was a lot more alert to anything that might appear as out of the ordinary. As the bell run for the last time, signalling the definitive end of all classes for the day, Kunizuka had already begun to quickly put her notes and pencil case back on her bag, with the speed of someone that did not wish to stay behind to speak. Before the girl could move away from her desk however, Riko’s hand flew towards her wrist, catching her in place.

“Where are you going?” the auburn haired girl questioned at once. The worry from before was still noticeable in her voice, but there was a more solid hint of curiosity now, “Izumi-chan, did something happen? Why were you late?”

Kunizuka didn’t answer her, in fact, it seemed like she avoided meeting Riko’s gaze at all. She looked down for a moment, then around the room, as the rest of the students left, the only ones remaining still at their desks being the four in the corner. Finally, the girl looked up at her, her eyes narrowing:

“I fell asleep very late yesterday,” despite the way she had apparently tried to look away before, as she had turned to face Riko, her gaze remained fixed on her, “I had to help out my father with something in the store, and when I was done, I was very tired.”

“So you just overslept?” Daisuke was the one who asked. She turned to look at him with what seemed to be curiosity, or perhaps, feeling weirded out. It wasn’t like the two of them were close, it would probably be weird for anyone that a random person they barely knew would question them.

“Yeah, I did. I forgot to set my alarm; only woke up at around lunchtime,” Kunizuka affirmed with a small nod, focusing back on Riko, “It was only a morning, it’s not like I was gone for a week. Why are you guys so bothered by it?”

“I was worried, Izumi,” Riko admitted, now she was avoiding meeting the other girl’s eyes, “You know… With what happened to the senpai? You’re never late, so…”

“Oh,” Kunizuka’s expression was muted slightly, as she seemed to have understood. She looked down at her feet, biting her lip. “Yeah, I get it. I’m sorry to have worried you…” she moved quickly then, pulling her arm up to look at her wristwatch, “Uh, I need to get going now, I have to go help at the store.”

Riko talked for the group, essentially giving her permission to go do what she had to do. Kunizuka, adjusting her bag to her shoulder, then waved goodbye to them and left the classroom, leaving them where they were, still watching her walk away.

“Well… Guess we were worried for no reason,” Tatsuya sighed, he too walking towards the door of the class, “She’s fine.”

“Yeah…” Riko’s agreement seemed very shallow. They had only just left the classroom when she spoke again: “I still think there’s something wrong with her.”

Daisuke had thought the same, yet he didn’t know the girl well enough to be able to know what her normal was. Still, her excuse felt somewhat forged, and her attitude and body language was strange, as if she was holding something back. Riko knew her better than he did, and if his friend thought something was off, then Daisuke felt the theory he was concocting in his head gained weight:

“Did Kunizuka-san know Yumeno-senpai?”

“Did she knew her?” Riko looked confused by the question, “Why?”

“Just tell me, please.”

“I... I don’t know,” she looked to Tatsuya seeking help, but the blond shrugged, “Maybe? Izumi is... Izumi is not a very sociable person, I think you can tell.”

“Hmm...” he felt an uncomfortable feeling inside himself, as he touched his neck in thought, “Is there a chance she might be our killer?”

The question had been posed in a hushed, barely audible tone, but the reaction from the two who had heard it made it appear as if Daisuke had shouted, his voice echoing through the emptying halls.

“No! She can’t be,” Riko enthusiastically shook her head, looking up to Daisuke, “She’d never do something like that. I know her.. She's changed, but I’ve known her since we were kids. The Izumi I know would never do something like that."

“Riko, I’m just posing a theory, I’m not accusing her just yet,” Daisuke made an effort to try to pacify her. Even if she had not spoken loudly, he’d rather they were not heard, “I’m just saying that maybe...”

“No, she wouldn’t,” the girl insisted, “I’d bet my life on it.”

“You just might...” Tatsuya had spoken in a grim tone that sounded unfamiliar coming from him, yet his expression complimented the harshness of his words. He sighed: “Ah… Let’s just, let’s not jump to conclusions. We should just keep looking at the Watch for now and we’ll see what happens, right?”

 

* * *

 

“You haven’t eaten much.”

Daisuke’s bowl of rice was still nearly half full when his aunt took it away from in front of him, balancing it on top of her own bowl, turning to walk away towards the kitchen.

Saeko had arrived from her shift at the hospital only a few hours ago, something that was apparent from the fact that she still wore her pale pink nurse uniform under her open blue wool cardigan. Daisuke could tell from the tired on look on her face, her somewhat messy hair, and the way her hands seemed somewhat shaky that she most likely hadn’t slept much over the last few days. From the muffled way she spoke and the sniffling, she was also most likely beginning to harbour a cold.

“Let me help you,” Daisuke had stood up from his seat, putting the chair back under the table before walking towards the kitchen, “You need to rest. I can handle the dishes.”

“No, you really don’t need to,” Saeko tried to place herself in front of him, so he couldn’t reach the dishwasher, “It’s fine, you should be tired from school, I’ll handle it.”

As Daisuke stayed put, looking at her, she finally relented, letting out a tired sigh and moving away from the counter. As he turned the water on and began to pass the bowls underneath the stream, he noticed from the corner of his eye his aunt once again using the back of her hand to stifle a yawn as she walked around the table and towards the couch by the TV. Daisuke knew that his aunt’s profession required a huge commitment, both physically and mentally, but he was still surprised at how whenever she was home, even in days off, she always looked tired, and just on the verge of falling asleep. Surely the joy of helping people was rewarding, but wouldn't compensate the toll it took on her own body? Whatever the answer was, he had decided that he would try his best at getting her aunt some rest, by helping her out at the house, handling the middling tasks.

“Dai-chan, I’ve been forgetting to ask,” her voices came to him from a couch. She had only bee sat down for a moment, before she asked: “It's been a week now since you've got here. How have you adapted? Is school going well?”

“Yeah, it’s been fine,” Daisuke nodded distractedly, as his hand searched for the yellow cloth on the counter, using it to dry the inside of the bowl, “Mr. Sakakibara is still a... Well, he's still not a particularly nice fellow, and I've had to adapt to that. But, besides that, I think I'm doing ok. It's not that different from what I had in Kaijo. I'm doing just fine, I think."

“I’m glad,” she stopped talking to contain another yawn with an outstretched hand. She looked away from the news broadcast on the TV for a moment, looking at apparently nothing in particular with narrowed eyes, but deep in thought, “You haven’t… You know. Have you?”

He knew what she meant. Even if he had somewhat tried to hide it with his hair when he passed by her, Daisuke did know that Saeko had noticed the bandage on his forehead that he had worn after his first trip to the Shadow World. He had taken it off by now, as the cut had mostly healed, but a mark still remained. Not a deep, or even particularly visible one, but it is still very much there. Saeko had not commented on it before, but Daisuke was sure that she had most likely equated the chance that it had come from a fight. Luckily, she had not seen him shirtless since then, as she would be able to see a diverse collection of bruises and minor cuts over his torso and arms that would paint a much more vivid and gruesome picture.

“No. I haven’t fought anyone,” it was a lie, but he was somewhat confident his calm tone and blank expression could carry it. Technically, he also hadn't fought any  _person_ , only Shadows, “I told you that I wouldn’t do it anymore. I meant it.”

“The cut on your brow?”

“I tripped when I left home the other day and hit my head,” he dropped the cloth over the counter, pulling his hair back to show her the healing cut on his brow, “I didn't tell you because I figured that if I said anything, you'd just assume I was covering up something. It sounds dumb, being clumsy enough to trip and smack my head outside, but I'm telling you the truth."

She didn’t tell him anything for a bit, instead moving on the sofa, pushing herself back into the headrest, trying to rid herself of accumulated fatigue. She sighed, closing her eyes:

“Dai-chan, even if you're here as an out of the ordinary punishment, I'm not your parole officer, I'm your aunt," she leaned her head against her shoulder, looking at him with the half-closed eyes of someone desperate for some rest, "If you tell me you aren't fighting, then I'll believe you. What you said the other day, about wanting to make amends didn't sound like a lie to me. All I want is to make sure you're safe, ok?"

Daisuke did not answer her, lingering in the same position he had been before, standing with one hand on the counter, looking first at his aunt then at the ground. He hated to have to lie to her. Whenever he was with Saeko now, he always felt the corrosive mix of emotions of wanting to help her and being thankful for her love and support, but at the same tie feeling awful for not being able to tell her the truth about what he had found on the otherworld, or about what demons he was fighting. He could be honest, but she would either not understand or believe him, or, even worse, would demand proof, and be herself put in danger. No, he'd continue on as it was. Helping her in whatever way she could to pay back to her everything she did for him. Even if, he thought, he would probably always stay in her debt.

“Oh, damn it! I forgot!”

Saeko had jolted up on her seat, her sudden exclamation had caught Daisuke by surprise, nearly making him jump in place. She got up from the couch, walking up to the entryway, leaving a curious Daisuke to trail behind: She was already putting on her shoes and grabbing her keys when he reached her:

“Something wrong?”

“I forgot to pick up the laundry,” Saeko told him, looking back for only a moment, quickly reaching for the warm tan coat by the door, “I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll go,” Daisuke had moved to cut her off from the door, placing himself against it.

Saeko’s look was not one that was too pleased with the offer. If she had willingly let him take over for her in terms of dishwashing, letting him leave the house during the night seemed a lot less likely.

“Come on, I’m not going to make any trouble,” he told her, trying to convince her, “I’ll just go and get the laundry, then come right back.”

She looked at him in silence for a moment, then sighed, and spoke: “It’s not just about you getting into trouble, Dai-chan, I told you that I trust you. But I’m also worried about you walking alone at night…”

She looked over her shoulder towards the living room. Daisuke was unsure of what she was meant to imply, but then he noticed that on the TV, the broadcast was just wrapping up what seemed to be a police press conference.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, if someone tried to attack me, I think I’d probably have better chances at fighting back than you would, aunt Saeko,” he thought for just a second before adding “Not that I would look for a fight.”

Even despite the stone faced way with which she had been staring at him before, the way with which Daisuke had hastily corrected himself, had successfully garnered a chuckle from Saeko, despite her efforts to maintain a serious look and tone. Daisuke permitted himself a small smile, as he reached to her coat, stopping her from pulling it down:

“Your cold'll get worse if you go out there in the coat. Just let me go, it's going to be just a few minutes, I'll be right back."

She looked at him in the eyes for a moment, trying wordlessly to convince him once more. As he remained steadfast in front of the door, she finally relented, letting go of the coat, and gesturing for him to go ahead. Daisuke mouthed a silent “thank you”, seeing as how she turned around and proceeded to walk back to the living room. He then opened the door, stepping outside.

Were it not for the extensive convincing he had done to be able to leave, and he would’ve immediately turned tail and walked back inside, as he felt his body be aggressively hit by the chilly winds of a glacial, unrelenting night. He figured that maybe going back in to get a warmer coat than his thin black hoodie was a profitable venture, but ended up soldiering on, braving the streets.

He had already traversed through Nagoya at night, on his very first day, but as he did it now, after spending time in the otherworld, he couldn’t shake the strange sensation that the town felt oddly eerie to him. During the day, it looked very welcoming and it definitely felt like a place he could call home, even after only spending a week there, but at night, the quiet and the cold made it feel distant, and even somewhat haunting. He could see his breath escape his mouth when he exhaled, such was the cold, but it soon would disperse into the fog that was beginning to take over the town. The Watch would appear that night, Daisuke would make sure that he did not forget to check it.

Soon enough, he had left the residential block where his aunt’s house was located, and had passed through the main plaza, going up into the commercial district. He found a lot more people walking about, going through their affairs, as he approached the high street, as they passed under the street lights. As he walked towards the shopping centre, the illuminated sign drawing his eye like a moth to a lamp, he recalled that he had never actually went into the laundromat, only that he knew it was close to LuckyLand. Coming from the city and its always busy and rushing population, he couldn’t help but find it odd how people in that town didn’t see the risk it was to leave their clothes unattended on a random public laundromat. Even if Saeko had probably just forgotten it while she went to do something else, it still spoke to him about how laid back life on that town probably was if she could forget something of the sort.

He reached the entrance of the shopping centre, but turned away from it, looking around the high street, searching for the entrance to the laundromat. He looked for a small while, before realizing that it was probably down the small street to his side. He only had to go a few steps inside the alleyway to be able to see the bright, fluorescent lights coming from the building at the end of the street, a row of washing and drying machines could be seen through the large glass windows composing the store front. He continued to walk towards his now visible destination, but as he did, something else caught his attention: Just to the side of the laundromat was a small opening on the wall that, along with some bicycle parking stands, also contained two vending machines that shone in bright colours, one blue advertising sodas, the other, orange with food items. Leaning against the wall, silhouetted against the bright orange of the vending machine, was a figure that he recognized. He didn’t mean to alert them, but he inadvertidely kicked a stray can on the floor, making it roll along the street floor, hitting against a nearby wall, making a noise that made the girl by the vendors look up at him.

“Kunizuka-san,” he called as she turned to him. From her body language, he could tell that she really did not want to meet him, or anyone at that time. He didn’t even know why he had called out to her, rather than just nodding and moving on.

“Who… Oh, Ichijou-san,” she had moved her neck to get a better look at him on the dark alleyway, getting to see his face as he walked closer to the light from the laundromat, “Good evening.”

 _Ok, move on now, don’t talk to her, you told aunt Saeko that you’d be home quickly_. He had tried to tell himself mentally to not say anything else besides just nodding her and retributing the wishes of a good night, but as he reached the automatic doors of the building, and the glass panels slid open automatically, something made him take a few steps back and move away from  them, walking closer to the vending machines. He took another look at Kunizuka. It was hard to fully make out details in the dark, having only the laundromat and the vending machines as a light source, but he could tell that she had not yet changed out of her school uniform, as she still wore the plaid skirt, the cardigan and the school blazer over it. That did strike him as odd. Her body language was also sort of odd, as she seemed tense, holding onto a can of some soda, whose brand he couldn't make out, with one hand, while she bit the nails of the other.

“Is everything ok?” the question left his lips even as his brain tried to rip his body out of there and into the laundromat.

“Am I ok?" the way she expressed it, it seemed that she was somewhat insulted by the question, "Does it seem like I'm not?

"Yeah, kind of," he supported himself against the wall, just outside of the alcove where the girl was, "It's late, and you're out here by yourself. You haven't changed your clothes, so I'm guessing you haven't went home yet.  So now I'm wondering, or thinking at least, that you probably lied about why you were late today. I'm guessing something's off."

She moved away from the wall, crushing the now empty soda can on her hand, tossing it at the rubbish bin in between the two vending machines. She stood where she was, her body still facing the vendors, but her face turned to look at him:

"Why are you asking me this? We don't know each other."

"We don't, but I'd still like to help if I can," a voice on his head was asking him why he continued to talk. She clearly did not want him there, and he still didn't really know why he was insisting so much on being a good Samaritan. For all he knew, Kunizuka could be the killer, "Riko cares about you, and she's my friend, so I care about you too."

She didn’t answer, turning back to look at the vending machines again, their humming filling the silence between the two students. Even if she had not said anything, Daisuke still got a feeling that bringing up Riko did have an impact on her. His friend had mentioned that Kunizuka had changed since they were kids, and that did make sense to him, as Riko spoke of the girl as being shy, but very kind. That Kunizuka did seem introverted, but there was something other than shyness keeping her isolated. When he had talked with her during school before, he didn't fully understand what it was, but now as they spoke away from Riko, and away from the familiarity of a classroom, he could see anger. When she turned on her heels to walk past Daisuke, not glancing at him, he realized what he had seen. He recognized it, he recognized the looks she had given him, the way she hid her frustrations and how she seemed to have lost the will to connect with others. He had seen it in a mirror before.

“Hey, Kunizuka-san!” he called again. She stopped in place, hands on the pockets of her cardigan, but still did not glance back. He sighed: “Don't let it get to you. Your anger... It's not just going to hurt you, it's going to hurt everyone around you. Just... Fight it, ok? You're stronger than that."

She moved her head to the side, to get a quick glimpse of him, her eyes didn't seem to show emotion, her lips were pursued in an ambiguous frown, her pale cheeks rosy from the cold. She turned away again, walking down the alley, leaving him with only a few more words:

“Good night, Ichijou-kun."


End file.
